Question

The measure of the complement of an angle is 40 less than the measure of the supplement of the angle. Find the measure of the angle.

Answer 1

Explanation:

x is the angle.

complementary angles are adding up to 90°.

supplementary angles are adding up to 180°.

so,

90 - x = (180 - x) - 40 = 140 - x

0 = 50 ? no

there is something wrong here. this cannot work out, there is no solution. there cannot be a solution.

because due to the definitions, the supplementary measure of an angle must always be 90° larger than the complementary measure of the same angle. that is by default the difference in their definition.

so, if an angle is only 40° less than the supplementary angle, then it cannot be the complementary angle.

so, either there was a mistake in the question, or this is a trick question.

under the given circumstances, there is no solution possible.