All ACT Math Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #4 : Acute / Obtuse Isosceles Triangles
What is the perimeter of an isosceles triangle with a vertex of degrees and two sides equal to ?
Based on the description of your triangle, you can draw the following figure:
You can do this because you know:
- The two equivalent sides are given.
- Since a triangle is degrees, you have only or degrees left for the two angles of equal size. Therefore, those two angles must be degrees and degrees.
Now, based on the properties of an isosceles triangle, you can draw the following as well:
Based on your standard reference triangle, you know:
Therefore, is .
This means that is and the total base of the triangle is .
Therefore, the perimeter of the triangle is:
Example Question #1 : How To Find If Of Acute / Obtuse Isosceles Triangle Are Similar
Triangle A and Triangle B are similar isosceles triangles. Triangle A's sides measure , , and . Two of the angles in Triangle A each measure . Triangle B's sides measure , , and . What is the measure of the smallest angle in Triangle B?
Because the interior angles of a triangle add up to , and two of Triangle A's interior angles measure , we must simply add the two given angles and subtract from to find the missing angle:
Therefore, the missing angle (and the smallest) from Triangle A measures . If the two triangles are similar, their interior angles must be congruent, meaning that the smallest angle is Triangle B is also .
The side measurements presented in the question are not needed to find the answer!
Example Question #2 : How To Find If Of Acute / Obtuse Isosceles Triangle Are Similar
Triangle A and Triangle B are similar isosceles triangles. Triangle A has a base of and a height of . Triangle B has a base of . What is the length of Triangle B's two congruent sides?
We must first find the length of the congruent sides in Triangle A. We do this by setting up a right triangle with the base and the height, and using the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for the missing side (). Because the height line cuts the base in half, however, we must use for the length of the base's side in the equation instead of . This is illustrated in the figure below:
Using the base of and the height of , we use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for :
Therefore, the two congruent sides of Triangle A measure ; however, the question asks for the two congruent sides of Triangle B. In similar triangles, the ratio of the corresponding sides must be equal. We know that the base of Triangle A is and the base of Triangle B is . We then set up a cross-multiplication using the ratio of the two bases and the ratio of to the side we're trying to find (), as follows:
Therefore, the length of the congruent sides of Triangle B is .
Example Question #221 : Geometry
Isosceles triangles and share common side . is an obtuse triangle with sides . is also an obtuse isosceles triangle, where . What is the measure of ?
In order to prove triangle congruence, the triangles must have SAS, SSS, AAS, or ASA congruence. Here, we have one common side (S), and no other demonstrated congruence. Hence, we cannot guarantee that side is not one of the two congruent sides of , so we cannot state congruence with .
Example Question #1 : Triangles
Points A and B lie on a circle centered at Z, where central angle <AZB measures 140°. What is the measure of angle <ZAB?
15°
30°
Cannot be determined from the given information
20°
25°
20°
Because line segments ZA and ZB are radii of the circle, they must have the same length. That makes triangle ABZ an isosceles triangle, with <ZAB and <ZBA having the same measure. Because the three angles of a triangle must sum to 180°, you can express this in the equation:
140 + 2x = 180 --> 2x = 40 --> x = 20
Example Question #1 : Triangles
Triangle FGH has equal lengths for FG and GH; what is the measure of ∠F, if ∠G measures 40 degrees?
40 degrees
100 degrees
70 degrees
None of the other answers
140 degrees
70 degrees
It's good to draw a diagram for this; we know that it's an isosceles triangle; remember that the angles of a triangle total 180 degrees.
Angle G for this triangle is the one angle that doesn't correspond to an equal side of the isosceles triangle (opposite side to the angle), so that means ∠F = ∠H, and that ∠F + ∠H + 40 = 180,
By substitution we find that ∠F * 2 = 140 and angle F = 70 degrees.
Example Question #163 : Triangles
The vertex angle of an isosceles triangle is . What is the base angle?
An isosceles triangle has two congruent base angles and one vertex angle. Each triangle contains . Let = base angle, so the equation becomes . Solving for gives
Example Question #164 : Triangles
In an isosceles triangle the base angle is five less than twice the vertex angle. What is the sum of the vertex angle and the base angle?
Every triangle has 180 degrees. An isosceles triangle has one vertex angle and two congruent base angles.
Let = the vertex angle
and = base angle
So the equation to solve becomes
or
Thus the vertex angle is 38 and the base angle is 71 and their sum is 109.
Example Question #161 : Triangles
Sides and in this triangle are equal. What is the measure of ?
This triangle has an angle of . We also know it has another angle of at because the two sides are equal. Adding those two angles together gives us total. Since a triangle has total, we subtract 130 from 180 and get 50.
Example Question #166 : Triangles
An isosceles triangle has a base angle that is six more than three times the vertex angle. What is the base angle?
Every triangle has 180 degrees. An isosceles triangle has one vertex angle and two congruent base angles.
Let = vertex angle and = base angle.
Then the equation to solve becomes
or
.
Solving for gives a vertex angle of 24 degrees and a base angle of 78 degrees.
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