Question

To ensure the helicopter stays as far as possible from three buildings in a triangular space, where should the helicopter pad be located—centroid, incenter, orthocenter, or circumcenter? Explain your reasoning and include a diagram.

a) Centroid
b) Incenter
c) Orthocenter
d) Circumcenter

Answer 1

The helicopter pad should be located at the centroid of the triangular space to ensure it stays as far as possible from the three buildings.

Step-by-step explanation:

The helicopter pad should be located at the centroid of the triangular space to ensure it stays as far as possible from the three buildings. The centroid is the point of concurrency of the medians of a triangle, which are the lines connecting each vertex of the triangle to the midpoint of the opposite side. This point represents the average position of the mass of the triangle and provides an equal distance from each building.

Here is a diagram to illustrate the concept: