Friday, May 25, 2012

Special Right Triangles: 30-60-90 and 45-45-90 Degrees Right Triangles





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Thanks a lot!!  Mrs. Lin







These are the two most common right triangles.

For 45-45-90 degrees, the ratio is  1 - 1 - √ 2

For 30-60-90 degrees, the ratio is  1 - √ 3 - 2

Other concepts to remember are that in any triangle a. larger angle corresponds to longer side and b.same 
angles have the same side length.

Level 0 skills check practices: 

Find the missing side length (answers below)

I: 45-45-90 degrees right triangle

a. 3 - ___- ___            b. 5 - ___- ___         c.   2 - ___ - ___      d. tricky : ___ - ___ - 3

e. ___ - ___ - 4           f. ___ - ___ - 6

II. 30-60-90 degrees right triangle

a. 3 - ___- ___            b.  ___- ___  - 4        c.   2 - ___ - ___      d. ___ - ___ - 5

e.  ___ - 6 - ___           f. ___ - 3 - ___

Answer key and some notes:

I: 45-45-90 degrees right triangle

a. 3 - 3- 3  2              b. 5 - 5 - 5  2         c.   2 -  2  - 2       d. 6 /2 - 6 /2 - √3

e. 2√ 2 - 2√ 2 - 4         f. 3 2 - 3√ 2  - 6

Notes:
a. Given the side length to 45 degrees, the easiest way to get the 90 degree side length is to time that number by  2 .

b. Given the side length to 90 degrees, the easiest way to get the 45 degree side length is to divide that number by 2 and then times  2 .

II. 30-60-90 degrees right triangle

a. 3 - 33 - 6            b.  2 - 2√3 - 4        c.   2 6  - 2√ 2       d. 2.5 - 2.53 - 5

e.  2√3 - 6 - 4√3         f.  3 - 3 -  2√3

Notes:
a. Given the side length to 30 degrees, the easiest way to get 90 degrees side length is to times 2 to the 30 degree side length. To get the side length to 60 degrees, times 3 to the side length to 30 degrees.

 b. Given the side length to 90 degrees, divide 90 degree side length by 2 to get the side length to 30 degrees.Times 3 to the side length of 30 degrees to get the side length of 60 degrees.

c. Given the side length to 60  degrees, divide that number by 3 and then times 3  to get the side length of 30 degrees. Times 2 to get the side length of 90 degrees.


Saturday, May 19, 2012

How Many Numbers (Terms)? Space, Inclusive and Exclusive Notes

Please write a comment and give me feedback. Thanks a lot!!

Quite a lot of my students have problems figuring out this type of problems so here are the notes.

#1: How many consecutive numbers from 1 to 5 inclusive?

1 _ 2 _ 3 _ 4 _ 5   There are 5 numbers if you just list them and count them out; however, what if
the question is:

#2: How many consecutive numbers from 34 to 200 (SAT type problem)?

Most students would think it's 200 - 34 = 166, but it's not.

Using #1 case, if you do 5 - 1 = 4, you are only getting how many spaces between those consecutive numbers.

Thus for question #2, the correct answer is 200 - 34 + 1 or 200 - 33 = 167

#3: What about how many consecutive numbers from 5 to 100 exclusive?

Inclusive means including the first and the last numbers; exclusive means not including the first and the last numbers, so for this question, you do 100 - 5 - 1 = 94.

Use # 1 case to help you figure out and really understand the concepts involved.

Here are other questions to help you practice the skills.

Word problems:  Answers below.

#1: How many numbers from 45 to 100 inclusive? 
#2: How many numbers from 17 to 127 inclusive? 
#3: How many numbers from 12 to 34 exclusive? 
#4: How many multiples of 9 from 1 to 200 inclusive?




#5: The dimension of the square on the left is 20 feet by 20 feet. If you  place a post every four feet, starting at one corner, how many posts will be placed? 






#6:  The distance from exit 13 to 21 is 216 miles. How many miles is the distance between two exits if all exits are equally spaced? 

#7: How many multiples of 5 from 120 to 218 exclusive? 

#8: Who is right? The teacher or the student?  Try this question.

#9: How many numbers from -12, -11, -10.........56 inclusive? 
What is their sum?

#10: How many numbers are in the list: 17.25, 18.25, 19, 25...111.25? 














Solutions: To excel at Mathcounts state/national, you need to practice all these questions mentally.

#1: 100 - 45 + 1 = 100 - 44 = 56
#2: 127-17 + 1 = 127 - 16 = 111
#3: Exclusive: 34 -12 -1 = 34 - 13 = 21
#4: Multiples of 9 from 1 to 200 starts with 9 and ends in 198.

Solution I: 9 , 18, 27...198  = 9 (1, 2, 3, ...22) The answer is 22.

Solution II:   \(\frac{(198 - 9)}{9} + 1 = 22"\)




#5:  Just observe one side first. Exclude the 4 corners, the other posts
are similar to those exclusive type problems.
There are \frac{20}{4} - 1 = 4 posts on each side so 4 * 4 + 4 (corner posts)
= 20



 #6: There are 21 - 13 = 8 space so\frac{216}{8} = 27 miles.  The answer is 27 miles.
#7:  Multiples of 5 from 120 to 218 start with 120 and end in 215.
Since it's asking exclusive, 120, 125, ...215 = 5(24, 25, ...43)
43 - 24 - 1 = 43 - 25 = 18
#8: You only need two cuts to get 3 pieces so 2 * 10 = 20 minutes. The student is right.
#9: 56 - ( -12) + 1 = 56 + 13 = 69
The sum is from 13 to 56 since up to 12 it got cancelled with the negative equivalent numbers.
Use average * the term you got  \frac{(13 + 56)}{2}* (56 - 13 +1) = 1518. The sum is 1518.
#10:111.25 - 117.25 + 1 = 111.25 - 116.25 = 95