Blog entry #1
In my geometry class I was asked the question, if there are any other angle combinations besides 45-45-90 and 30-60-90 that show similar patterns? So I started to collect some data to try and find any similarities between the side lengths of triangle. First I started with a triangle with a short leg length of 1 inch, then I choose to have my angles of the triangle be 90-50-40, the triangles name is ABC. I made about six triangles then each time I increased the measure of side AB (short leg) which is one inch long. Each time I drew a new triangle I increased the size by one inch, then I measured the longer leg and hypotenuse. After creating about six triangles I noticed a pattern. The pattern was that the longer leg would be a half a inch bigger than the shorter leg, and the hypotenuse would be a half an inch greater than the longer leg. In other words the length of the hypotenuse is an inch greater than the short leg. Down bellow is a table of my results.
| Short Leg: | Longer leg: | Hypotenuse: |
| 1 inch | 1.5 inches | 2 inches |
| 2 inches | 2.5 inches | 3 inches |
| 4 inches | 4.5 inches | 5 inches |
| 5 inches | 5.5 inches | 6 inches |
| 6 inches | 6.5 inches | 7 inches |
After finding this data I don’t really think it can help me to find other angle combination because the longer legs are not integers. With this information I think I need to change my selected angle choices of size.
It is okay if the leg lengths are not integers. You could look at more decimal places to see if you could be more specific about the pattern that you already found. You could also try looking at other triangles to see if you find similar or different patterns.
ReplyDeleteHow do you get that table on your page?
ReplyDelete