Question

I need help!

Suppose you want to make a triangular rack to go along with your new pool table.
The rack will be an equilateral triangle with sides that are 38 cm long. If you have 120 centimeters of wood already, would you need to buy more wood before beginning the project? Explain your
answer

Answer 1

Answer: If the rack is an equilateral triangle, then its three sides are all the times. Therefore, you need three pieces of wood 38 cm long to make the rack. You can find the total amount by multiplying 38 times 3, which will be 114 cm. So, you don't need to buy more wood because the 120 cm you have is enough.

Answer 2

Let's assume that the wood is so thin that we don't have to worry about it overlapping at the 3 joints. If this is the case, then we divide 120 cm by 38 cm, obtaining 3.16 sides.

In this case it would not be necessary to buy more wood. However, if the wood were thicker, like 3/8 or 1/2 inch, then there might be just barely enough.