MIT 1869

You know the length of hypotenuse parts 9 and 16, at which the hypotenuse of a right triangle is divided by a height. The task is to find the lengths of the sides of the triangle and the length of line x. This assignment was part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT entrance exams in 1869.

Correct answer:

c =  25
x =  12
a =  15
b =  20

Step-by-step explanation:

c1=9 c2=16  c=c1+c2=9+16=25
x2 = c1 c2  x=c1 c2=9 16=12
a2=x2+c12 a=x2+c12=122+92=15
b2=x2+c22 b=x2+c22=122+162=20   Verifying Solution:   c3=a2+b2=152+202=25

Try calculation via our triangle calculator.




Did you find an error or inaccuracy? Feel free to write us. Thank you!



Showing 1 comment:
Peter
Easier solution with almost no calculating. Because all 3 entered triangles are similar, the following holds: x / 9 = 16 / x => x = 12. And because every triangle that has an aspect ratio of 3: 4: 5 is right, it must hold: a = 3 * 5 = 15 ab = 4 * 5 = 20.
PS: Maybe at that time they wanted to know at MIT who was just calculate and who was even thinking.

2 years ago  1 Like




Tips for related online calculators

You need to know the following knowledge to solve this word math problem:


 
We encourage you to watch this tutorial video on this math problem: video1   video2

Related math problems and questions: