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Mhanifa please help! I don't understand how to fill in this chart

Mhanifa please help! I don't understand how to fill in this chart-example-1
User Dymk
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1 Answer

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Answer:

see attached

Explanation:

For this exercise, it is convenient to define a, b, c as the side lengths in increasing order. (The only thing that really matters is that c=longest.)

Below, we have used a spreadsheet to do the calculations.

When a^2+b^2 > c^2, the triangle is acute. For "<", the triangle is obtuse. For "=", the Pythagorean theorem is satisfied and the triangle is a right triangle.

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Additional comment

The measure of the largest angle in the triangle is ...

α = arccos((a²+b²-c²)/(2ab))

Knowing that the cosine is negative for angles larger than 90° helps me remember how the relationship of a²+b² to c² relates to the shape of the triangle.

Mhanifa please help! I don't understand how to fill in this chart-example-1
User Arjen Poutsma
by
3.5k points