The base of the triangle is bisected to create two triangles, one small and one large. The height of the smaller triangle is 15 cm and the height of the larger triangle is 25? The base of the larger triangle is 40 cm. What is the length of the base of the smaller triangle?
2007-08-24 19:22:10 · 2 answers · asked by huskychick88 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Your question is very badly phrased.
2007-08-24 19:35:56 · answer #1 · answered by swd 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your question does not make sense as phrased. "Bisection" refers to cutting something in half. If the base of a triangle is bisected to create two triangles, the bisector must pass through the opposite vertex of the triangle; you could also bisect the base with any line intersecting its midpoint, but other bisectors would divide the triangle into one triangle and one quadrilateral instead. This particular bisector of the base is actually the median of the triangle. But a median cannot divide a triangle into "one small and one large" triangle, because it divides the triangle into two triangles of exactly equal area. Further, the two triangles will have bases of equal length and they will also have the same height. You couldn't possibly have one triangle with a height of 15 cm and one with a height of 25 cm. So if you bisect the base of a triangle and one of the new triangles has a base of length 40 cm, the other triangle also has a base of length 40 cm.
2007-08-27 12:30:17 · answer #2 · answered by DavidK93 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋