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Geometry/trig puzzle

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My daughter found this and expects me to solve it. The reputation for omniscience that I used to have has been coming under question lately so it's essential that I solve it or she will lose all respect for me.

Geometry


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 1:46 pm
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.


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 2:36 pm
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42


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 2:50 pm
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42

Excellent, thank you. So looking forward the looks of awe I will receive when I announce the solution.


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 3:02 pm
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IMG_5722My hunch is that you’ll need non right angle trig and then set up simultaneous equations.


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 3:03 pm
thols2 and thols2 reacted
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Blimey, primary schools are setting some pretty tricky homework tasks nowadays.


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 3:07 pm
hardtailonly, leffeboy, leffeboy and 1 people reacted
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My hunch is that you’ll need non right angle trig and then set up simultaneous equations.

Yeah, I started down a similar path then realized that I'd forgotten all the stuff I knew when I was 18 and couldn't be bothered trying to figure it all out again.


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 3:10 pm
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So looking forward the looks of awe I will receive when I announce the solution.

No problem 🙂


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 3:35 pm
thols2 and thols2 reacted
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abc = 126

de = 72

Will solve the other one when I pick up some more paper if it’s not already been done.

clue simple trigonometry is all that’s needed.


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 4:00 pm
thols2, ampthill, thols2 and 1 people reacted
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I would say you are going to need a combination of internal and external angles.

Try this for starters:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zshb97h/revision/6#

No I haven't worked it out for you.


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 9:46 pm
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abc = 150

de = 48

Not seeing fg or hi.


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 10:30 pm
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fg = 75

hi = 45


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 11:10 pm
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1
2


 
Posted : 11/11/2023 11:44 pm
thols2, oceanskipper, fruitbat and 3 people reacted
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Thanks, much appreciated.


 
Posted : 12/11/2023 2:13 am
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That's waaaaay over the top.

The angles of a triangle always equal 180degrees.

You can draw a line through both those shapes to isolate one of the unknowns hi and ABC in those examples.

That gives you enough to find the other two.

Give me a sec and I will draw it out.


 
Posted : 12/11/2023 11:30 am
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Ignore that. Put my glasses on!


 
Posted : 12/11/2023 11:47 am
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I am still pretty sure you can do it without trig though.

You know all the angles equal 360

You know the four triangles you can create all sum to 180

Which means you can get a formula for any unknown angle.

And you can simultaneous equation and substitution to solve.


 
Posted : 12/11/2023 12:19 pm
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shopping


 
Posted : 12/11/2023 3:10 pm
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For the right hand figure:

Let the corners be A to D starting from the bottom left anticlockwise
Sides AB=BC=CD.=1, AC=1.414 (root 2)
Then for triangle ACD, using the Cosine Rule,
AD=1.414, CD=1, included angle=105, angle di=45
Angle fg = 360-(105+90+45) = 75

Haven't tried it for the other figure yet.


 
Posted : 15/11/2023 7:53 pm
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Correction::<br />In line 4, should read AC=1.414


 
Posted : 15/11/2023 8:18 pm
 toby
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By drawing a line from the top of the right hand figure to the bottom right, you can form two equilateral triangles. You can then solve the angles using nothing more complicated than subtracting and dividing by two.

Which leads me to expect that a similar simple solution exists for the left hand figure...


 
Posted : 15/11/2023 8:25 pm
 toby
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Ignore my last post, I don't think I am confident that my reasoning is sound, I've looked again and I'm not convinced the larger triangle when the right hand figure is divided as I describe is equilateral by anything more than coincidence... Bother.

ETA: Yes it is, but some basic trig *is* needed after all, it's not just simple sums after all.


 
Posted : 15/11/2023 9:19 pm
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For the left-hnd figure:

Let the corners be A to D starting at the bottom  left anticlockwise,<br />Using the Cosine Rule - BD=1.618, then for triangle  ABD angle at B=angle at D=36.<br />So for triangle BCD - BD=1.618, BC=1, angle at D=54-36=18<br />Using Cosine Rule - angle abc=132<br />Then angle de= 360-(108+54+132) = 66 


 
Posted : 15/11/2023 9:34 pm
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Right hand one you can do with no trig...

You can complete the square using the two similar sides and the right angle. That then gives a 60 degree angle (150 - 90) between the top of the square and the third similar side. That is therefore an equilateral triangle, so you can complete the last side of that.

That then forms an isosceles triangle with the long diagonal... with a known angle of 150, therefore the other two angles are 15... which means hi is 60 - 15... so 45.

Like this, fg is 90 - 15.. so 75

Will think about the left hand one...


 
Posted : 15/11/2023 9:45 pm
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clue simple trigonometry is all that’s needed.<br /><br />

Ha! You say that, but…


 
Posted : 15/11/2023 10:03 pm
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Horse walked into a bar
The horse handed its trig homework to the bartender and said, "Which is the hypotenuse?"
The bartender replied, "Y, the long face"


 
Posted : 16/11/2023 7:08 am
thols2, andy5390, thols2 and 1 people reacted
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What do the dots on the lines represent?


 
Posted : 16/11/2023 7:56 am
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The dots mean those sides are the same length...


 
Posted : 16/11/2023 8:02 am