#the areas of two similar triangles are 72cm^2 and 162cm^2. what is the ratio of the lengths and…
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ok
lets see
i can't read the whole question as you put it in the title
oh ok nvm
the areas of two similar triangles are 72cm^2 and 162cm^2. what is the ratio of the lengths and their corresponding sides?
lets see
well
this isn't actually about trig
this is about linear algebra, a much more fascinating and complex field
Well yeah but can u help
yeah
lets start with a slightly easier case
a square has an area of 72cm^2
and another one has an area of 162cm^2
what is the ratio of their side lengths?
seems fair to me
What about triangles?
well, a triangle can be inscribed in a square
incredible image i found on google
extremely high quality
if the area of the square is S
what is the area of ABC?
Uh
Ok
so what is it?
Idk
Idk what ur talking abt 😭
I think the teacher did this with us earlier but she didn’t do it like this
it'll make sense, trust me
the area of the red triangle
is the same as ABC's
so, if the square has an area of S
what's the red area?
don't panic, it's all good
2
so what is the area of the red triangle
S/2
in terms of the area of the square?
yee
so the area of ABC
is the same as the area of the red triangle
so what's the area of ABC?
S/2
But how is it the same
What if I stretched A very low
Wouldn’t the area be different
it has to be on the top line
well
lets take a generic triangle
we know nothing about it
except, that its area is 72cm^2
that triangle is hard to work with, right?
Yeah
what's a much nicer shape to work with?
hint hint
so it's easier to work with it
Square
alright, so lets just inscribe it in a square
or well
since it's not always possible to inscribe it nicely
we'll just use two copies of the original, and make a parallelogram that has the same area as the square
I don’t think it has to be this confusing :(
My teacher never said anything abt this
😭
well yeah, but this could make your life a whole lot easier
anyways, lets avoid that
lets say you inscribed the triangle
so now you have a square with twice the area
now, you have a second triangle, with 162cm^2
you can also inscribe it
that square's area would be twice the second triangle's area
right?
Ok
so you have two squares
Yeah
Yeah
do you agree that their ratio would be the same as the triangles'?
it's why this is cool
the truth is, this isn't actually related to triangles almost at all
Wait
you could do this with a circle, or any other shape
So I square root them
but it also works with triangles
12 and 18
that's the fun part, no need!
So the ratio is 2:3
Answer key says the same thing
Ur right! This seems so much easier
Thank you so much!
well, it isn't at first
but it's worth it
one final thing
Have a nice day, Ty for the help
i'll tell you this isn't actually something they teach at school
you just say "thanks @ username"
Thanks @willow pine
@primal pebble has given 1 rep to @willow pine
Cya!
have fun!