[Hyper Sonic]

Originally Posted by Christinaa317o8

So here's my questions.
We're working on ratios which was from 9th grade algerabra but i don't understand it.
Pretty pathetic my teacher tells me.

Okay so heres the problem:

A line segment is divided into two segments, that are in the ratio 3:5. The measure of one segment is 12 centemeters longer than the measure of the other. Find the measure of each segment.


---So I drew a picture of a line. with a point dividing it into two. named one 3x and the other 5x. Thats all I have and its probably wrong. :]

I'd have done the same thing. You also know that

5x = 3x + 12

which solves to give x = 6. Putting that back in we get 3x6cm = 18cm and 5x6cm = 30cm. As 30cm is 12cm bigger than 18cm the answer of 6cm is correct

Heres another question

Can the measures of a triangle be in the ratio 5:6:7? Why or Why not?

By measures do you mean angles or lines?

I don't see why angles cannot. Since the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 you can do

180/(5+6+7) = 10

so you could have 50, 60 and 70 degrees.

With sides I do not think so because if I construct a triangle with sides a=7x, b=6x and c=5x then by using the cos rule

cos(C) = (a²+b²-c²)/(2ab)

would give an angle of 0 degrees which evidently cannot be