Almost Isoceles

Geometry Level 4

A B = B C = C D AB = BC = CD , m A B C = 7 5 m\angle ABC = 75^\circ , m B C D = 16 5 m\angle BCD = 165^\circ . Find m E m\angle E , to the nearest tenth of a degree.

(Illustration not necessary to scale)


The answer is 22.5.

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2 solutions

Lemuel Liverosk
Jul 19, 2016

The trick here is constructing equilateral A B F \triangle ABF .

m F B C + m B C D = 15 ° + 165 ° = 180 ° m\angle FBC + m\angle BCD = 15° + 165° = 180° and F B = B C = C D FB = BC = CD

B C D F BCDF is a rhombus

B C D F \overline{BC} \parallel \overline{DF} and A F D \triangle AFD is isoceles

m E = m A D F = 90 ° 1 2 m A F D = 90 ° 1 2 ( 360 ° 60 ° 165 ° ) = 22.5° m\angle E = m\angle ADF = 90° - \frac{1}{2} m\angle AFD = 90° - \frac{1}{2} (360° - 60° - 165°) = \fbox{22.5°}

Connect A C AC and observe that A B C \triangle ABC is isosceles, which implies that B C A = B A C = 52. 5 \angle BCA=\angle BAC =52.5^\circ . Applying the cosine rule to A B C \triangle ABC , we find that A C = 2 2 cos 7 5 AC=\sqrt{2-2\cos{75^\circ}}

Now, note that A C D = 16 0 52. 5 = 112. 5 \angle ACD = 160^\circ-52.5^\circ=112.5^\circ . Applying the cosine rule to A C D \triangle ACD , we find that A D = A C 2 + 1 2 A C cos 112. 5 = 1.84776... AD = \sqrt{AC^2+1-2AC\cos{112.5^\circ}}=1.84776...

Apply the sine rule to A C D \triangle ACD . A D sin 122. 5 = 1 C A D C A D = 3 0 \frac{AD}{\sin{122.5^\circ}}=\frac{1}{\angle CAD}\Rightarrow \angle CAD = 30^\circ

Therefore, E = 18 0 112. 5 3 0 1 5 = 12. 5 \angle E = 180^\circ-112.5^\circ-30^\circ-15^\circ=12.5^\circ

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