Triangles

The Mathematics 11 Competency Test

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Triangles
Triangles are plane geometric figures with three straight line sides and three vertices. Typically, the three vertices are labelled with upper case characters from the beginning of the alphabet, and the sides opposite each vertex are labelled with the corresponding lower case letters, as shown in the sketch to the right.

A c b

C Often, the symbol is used for the word triangle. Specific B a triangles are identified by listing the characters labelling their vertices. Thus ABC is a shorthand notation to denote the triangle sketched above to the right.
Types of Triangles There are quite a number of terms to describe triangles of various special types. You should be familiar with at least the following types: equilateral triangles: all three sides have the same length. All three vertices are the same size: 600. Notice how sometimes small crosslines are used to indicate which sides of the triangle have equal lengths.
600

600

600

isosceles triangles: two of the three sides have the same length. The two angles opposite the equal-length sides have the same measure.

scalene triangle: this term is used to refer to a general triangle, having no specific relationships between the lengths of any sides. One thing we can say about the lengths of the sides of any triangle in general is that no one side can be longer than the sum of the lengths of the other two sides. right triangle: has one vertex which forms a right angle. The vertex with the right angle is conventionally labelled C. The two shorter perpendicular sides are called legs of the right triangle. The longest side, opposite the right angle, is called the hypotenuse. A very important property of right triangles is Pythagorass formula or theorem:

A b c leg a

c 2 = a2 + b 2
This formula will be exploited later when we introduce trigonometry.

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Triangles

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Properties of Triangles For every plane triangle, the vertex angles always add up to 1800:

A + B + C = 1800
Example: Two angles in a triangle are 63.60 and 42.10. Determine the third angle. solution: Let x be the third angle which we are to determine. Then, since all three angles must add up to 1800, we must have that x + 63.60 + 42.10 = 1800. So x = 1800 (63.60 + 42.10) = 74.30.

The third angle must be 74.30. Example: Determine the measure of angles A and B in the diagram to the right. solution: The three angles inside the triangle must add up to 1800. The angle at the lower right is indicated to be a right angle, so it must measure 900. Thus 380 + 900 + A = 1800 Therefore, A = 1800 (380 + 900) = 520 Angle B, together with the 380 angle form a straight angle which as a measure of 1800. Thus B + 380 = 1800 So B = 1800 380 = 1420.

A B

380

For any right triangle, C = 900, so A + B = 900 the two acute angles are complementary. In any triangle, the longest side is always opposite the largest angle, and the shortest side is always opposite the smallest angle.

Perimeter of a Triangle The perimeter, P, or distance around any triangle, is simply the sum of the lengths of its sides:

P =a+b+c

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Example: A triangular plot of land is sketched in the figure to the right. Compute its perimeter and the cost of putting a fence around it if the fence material costs $15.95 per meter. solution: The perimeter is just the sum of the lengths of the three sides: P = 42.6 m + 81.3 m + 102.7 m = 226.6 m To get the cost of the fence, just multiply the number of meters of fence required (the perimeter of the triangle) by the cost in dollars per meter. Thus

$ Cost = 226.6 m 15.95 = $3614.27 . m

Area of a Triangle Imagine rotating a triangle so that one of its sides is horizontal, as shown in the sketch to the right. We will call this side the base of the triangle. Now, draw in a altitude vertical line from the top vertex of the triangle to this (h) base. Such a line is called an altitude of the triangle. Obviously, since this altitude is vertical and this base is horizontal, they are perpendicular. If we symbolize base (b) the length of the base of the triangle by the letter b, and symbolize the length of the corresponding altitude by the letter h (for height), then the area, A, of the triangle, the amount of surface it occupies, is given by

A=

1 bh 2

(one-half base times height)

You will get exactly the same answer if you use any of the three sides of the triangle as the base. In some cases, the altitude may not be inside the triangle, as was the situation in the sketch above. Instead, it may have to be a vertical line from the top vertex drawn to intersect an extension of the base, and shown to the right. The base is still just the actual horizontal side of the triangle and not its extension.

base (b)

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Triangles

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Example: Calculate the perimeter and the area of the triangle shown in the sketch to the right. solution: This triangle is a right triangle with the length of the two legs given. To calculate the perimeter, we need the lengths of all three sides. Fortunately, since this is a right triangle, Pythagorass theorem applies, giving us a way to calculate the length of the third side (in this case, the hypotenuse). So, letting c stand for the length of the longest side of this triangle, we have by Pythagoras that c2 = (8 m)2 + (15 m)2 = 64 m2 + 225 m2 = 289 m2 Therefore,

c = 289 m 2 = 17 m
So, perimeter = p = sum of the lengths of the three sides = 8 m + 15 m + 17 m = 40 m. To calculate the area, imagine rotating the triangle so that the side of length 15 m is on the bottom, horizontal. Then the side of length 8 m will be vertical (since it is perpendicular to the side of length 15 m). In this orientation, the side of length 15 m forms a base of the triangle, (so b = 15 m) and the side of length 8 m forms the corresponding altitude of the triangle (h = 8 m). Thus, we get

8m

15 m

Area = A =

1 bh 2 = 1 (15 m )( 8 m ) = 60 m 2 2

Example: With reference to the figure to the right: (i) compute the perimeter and area of the triangle drawn with heavy solid lines, and, (ii) determine the measures of the angles labelled A, B, and C. solution: To calculate the perimeter and areas, we need to deal with lengths. So, well resketch this triangle, showing all lengths and rotating it so that the lower right hand side is horizontal.
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C B

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To compute the perimeter, we need the lengths of all three sides. Two are already given. To get the length of the third side, labelled b in this rotated sketch, we note that b + 12.3 m = 46.8 m Therefore b = 46.8 m 12.3 m = 34.5 m. So, now, perimeter = p = 34.5 m + 22.4 m + 50.4 m = 107.3 m. To calculate the area, we note that the vertical length, 18.7 m, forms an altitude (h = 18.7 m) corresponding to the base, b = 34.5 m, formed by the horizontal side in the rotated sketch. Thus
b 46.8 m 12.3 m

Area = A =

1 1 bh = ( 34.5 m )(18.7 m ) = 322.575 m 2 2 2

To determine the measures of the angles A, B, and C, we make use of the fact that the sum of the angles inside a triangle is always 1800, and angles combining to form a straight angle also sum to 1800. Thus B + 900 + 56.70 = 1800 A + 56.70 = 1800 and so C + A + 21.80 = 1800 C = 1800 21.80 A = 1800 21.80 123.30 = 34.90 B = 33.30 A = 123.30

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Triangles

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