Counter Examples

The easiest way to disprove a conjecture is to find a counter example to the statement. If you suspect that a statement is not necessarily true, find a counter example.

Which of the following statements about triangles are true?

I. The perimeter of a triangle with integer sides is an integer.
II. The area of a triangle with integer sides is an integer.
III. 2 triangles with the same perimeter are similar.

A) I only
B) II only
C) III only
D) I and II only
E) I, II, and III

Solution: Consider the first statement. The perimeter of a triangle is the sum of its 3 sides. Since each of the sides is an integer, hence the perimeter is an integer.

Consider the second statement. This statement looks suspiciously false, but it can be hard to find a counter example. The favorite 3−4−5 3-4-5 or 5−12−13 5-12-13 right triangles have integer area. We know that the area is equal to half base times height. The base is an integer, so if we can make the height a non-integer, then it's possible to find a counterexample. For what triangles is it easy to find their height? Let's consider an isosceles triangle! The 1−2−2 1-2-2 isosceles triangle has a height of 22−.52=1217 \sqrt{2^2 - .5^2 } = \frac{1}{2} \sqrt{17} . Clearly, this triangle does not have integer area!

Consider the third statement. The triangles 3−4−5 3-4-5 and 4−4−44-4-4 are clearly not similar. Hence it is not true.

Thus, only the first statement is true. The answer is A.

#Practice #Skill

Note by Arron Kau
6 years, 10 months ago

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