Lines and lines

Geometry Level 3

How many straight lines are there that cut a triangle of side lengths 3, 4, 5 into two parts of equal areas and equal perimeters?

0 1 2 3 4 5

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

There are three possibilities:

a) Hence { x + y = 6 x y sin α 2 = 3 \begin{cases} x+y=6 \\ \frac{xy\sin \alpha}{2}=3 \end{cases} Using that sin α = 4 5 \sin\alpha =\dfrac{4}{5} we get that { x + y = 6 x y = 7.5 \begin{cases} x+y=6 \\ xy=7.5\end{cases} The roots of it are: x = 3 6 2 1.78 y = 3 + 6 2 4.22 \begin{aligned} x & = 3-\dfrac{\sqrt{6}}{2}\approx 1.78 \\ y & = 3+\dfrac{\sqrt{6}}{2}\approx 4.22\end{aligned} This gives us a solution.

b) Using sin β = 3 5 \sin\beta=\dfrac{3}{5} , we get { x + y = 6 x y = 10 \begin{cases} x+y=6 \\ xy=10 \end{cases} which doesn't have any solutions.

c) Hence the cutted triangle is right angled, we get { x + y = 6 x y = 6 \begin{cases} x+y=6 \\ xy=6 \end{cases} The roots of it x = 3 3 1.27 y = 3 + 3 4.73 \begin{aligned} x & = 3-\sqrt{3}\approx 1.27 \\ y & = 3+\sqrt{3}\approx 4.73\end{aligned} Since 4.73 4.73 is longer than both of the legs of the big triangle, this doesn't give us a solution.

Therefore there is exactly 1 \boxed{1} line, which satisfies the given conditions.

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...