If the long side of a triangle is 14.5" and the other 2 sides are equal how long are the other 2 sides? Please include the equation because I have to build something and if the 2 equal sides are too long I will have to change my dimensions. Thanks.
2007-06-21 12:05:03 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Sorry I didn't give enough information. The side oposite of the 90 degree angle is 14.5" and both other angles are 45 degrees.
2007-06-21 12:29:25 · update #1
there's not enough information to answer your question. you need to provide at least 1 of the angles.
I am assuming that this is a RIGHT triangle (since you mention the long side and 2 shorter equal sides), that would mean that the needed information is 90 degrees.
In which case the long side is called the Hypotenuse. Now just apply the Pythagorean Theorem:
c^2 = a^2 + b^2 | where c is your long side
or, since the two other sides are equal ...
c^2 = a^2 + a^2 or 2 * (a^2)
and ...
(14.5)^2 = 2 * (a^2) etc, and you get a=10.25
:-)
2007-06-21 12:18:33 · answer #1 · answered by rathrhadit 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no way to know unless you give some angles. The way you wrote it, most likely you've been given a right triangle with two equal sides which means the other two angles are 45 degrees. The long side is the hypotenuse and is 14.5 inches. Call each equal side L. Square L. Add each square to get
2L^2 = 14.5^2
2L^2 = 210.25
L^2 = 105.125
Taking the square root of both sides yields L = 10.25 inches.
2007-06-21 19:20:37 · answer #2 · answered by Russell 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They can be any length, it depends on the angle.
If I could draw a picture I would, but the angle is what will determine the length.
If the angle is small, they will approximate 7.25 (half of14.5), if the angle were 60 degrees, you'd be equilateral at 14.5" per side...
Visit here for some formulas and info on Triangles:
Edit: Since you said it's an isosoles right triangle...
You can extract it from Pythagoras a^2 + b^2 = c^2
Since a= b in your case, you get:
a^2 + a^2 = c^2 giving you 2a^2=c^2, take the square root of both sides to get sqrt(2)*a=c, or a = c/sqrt(2)
From there, you can figure out your sides for whatever long length you have. In your case it's 14.5/1.414 or roughly 10 1/4 inches.
2007-06-21 19:13:04 · answer #3 · answered by Jason K 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think we also need one of the angles to find a unique solution.
Given that the 14.5'' side is the longest side, the other two sides meet at an angle greater than 60 but less than 180.
If the other two sides meet at a 90 degree angle, they would be about 10.253'' each.
All we can say is that the lengths will be greater than 7.25 and less than 14.5.
2007-06-21 19:13:51 · answer #4 · answered by TFV 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It could be anything. You need to include something about angles. For example the two other sides could leave the long side at equal angles of anything between 1 degree and 59 degrees. Both would always be equal in length and shorter than the longer side.
2007-06-21 19:15:33 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are not building anything tonight. You want someone to do your math homework for you.
Think this over. You know you have dimension for the base, 14.5 inches. You know that the sum total of the other two sides must be greater than 14.5 or they would never connect. You have an infinite number of solutions because you did not specify any other limitations. In principal you could have both sides 20 miles long or more. It could also be 14.5000001/2 inches long; it depends on the height you wish to have which you did not specify.
2007-06-21 19:17:57 · answer #6 · answered by GTB 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
use a^2+b^2=c^2 and u know c so c^2=14.5^2=210.25
so if the other two sides must be the same, making it a right triangle, 210.25/2=105.125 and take the square root of that to get 10.253in so a and b equal 10.253in long and c is 14.5 in long...10.25^2+10.25^2=14.5^2
here u go
2007-06-21 19:17:29 · answer #7 · answered by mike 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If one angle of the triangle is 90 degrees. Use the Pythagorean theorem. a^2+b^2 = c^2. If a & b are equal then we have 2*(a^2)=c^2 =>> a^2 = (c^2)/2 ...... c = 14,5'' and a the requested side.
2007-06-21 19:29:03 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
One side alone is not sufficient information to define a triangle, even if you know that the other two sides are equal to each other. You could solve this question only if all three sides were equal, but that cannot be, as you have a 'long' side.
2007-06-21 19:15:04 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The other two sides could be anything. They could be a fraction of an inch longer than 14.5 each, or they could be miles long each.
2007-06-21 19:11:32 · answer #10 · answered by DanE 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋