Triangles - ACT Math

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Question

In a right triangle ABC, the measure of angle C is greater than 60 degrees. Which of the following statements could describe the measures of angles A and B?

Answer

Given that it is a right triangle, either angle A or B has to be 90 degrees. The other angle then must be less than 30 degrees, given that C is greater than 60 because there are 180 degrees in a triangle.

Example:

If angle C is 61 degrees and angle A is 90 degrees, then angle B must be 29 degrees in order for the angle measures to sum to 180 degrees.

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Question

A 17 ft ladder is propped against a 15 ft wall. What is the degree measurement between the ladder and the ground?

Answer

Since all the answer choices are in trigonometric form, we know we must not necessarily solve for the exact value (although we can do that and calculate each choice to see if it matches). The first step is to determine the length of the ground between the bottom of the ladder and the wall via the Pythagorean Theorem: "x2 + 152 = 172"; x = 8. Using trigonometric definitions, we know that "opposite/adjecent = tan(theta)"; since we have both values of the sides (opp = 15 and adj = 8), we can plug into the tangential form tan(theta) = 15/8. However, since we are solving for theta, we must take the inverse tangent of the left side, "tan-1". Thus, our final answer is

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Question

What is the sine of the angle between the base and the hypotenuse of a right triangle with a base of 4 and a height of 3?

Answer

By rule, this is a 3-4-5 right triangle. Sine = (the opposite leg)/(the hypotenuse). This gives us 3/5.

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Question

The measure of 3 angles in a triangle are in a 1:2:3 ratio. What is the measure of the middle angle?

Answer

The angles in a triangle sum to 180 degrees. This makes the middle angle 60 degrees.

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Question

Right triangle has an acute angle measuring . What is the measure of the other acute angle?

Answer

The Triangle Angle Sum Theorem states that the sum of all interior angles in a triangle must be . We know that a right triangle has one angle equal to , and we are told one of the acute angles is .

The rest is simple subtraction:

Thus, our missing angle is .

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Question

Right triangle has angles with a ratio of with a ratio of . What is the smallest angle in the triangle?

Answer

Solving this problem quickly requires that we recognize how to break apart our ratio.

The Triangle Angle Sum Theorem states that the sum of all interior angles in a triangle is . Additionally, the Right Triangle Acute Angle Theorem states that the two non-right angles in a right triangle are acute; that is to say, the right angle is always the largest angle in a right triangle.

Since this is true, we can assume that is represented by the largest number in the ratio of angles. Now consider that the other two angles must also sum to . We know therefore that the sum of their ratios must be divisible by as well.

Thus, .

To find the value of one angle of the ratio, simply assign fractional value to the sum of the ratios and multiply by .

, so:

Thus, the shortest angle (the one represented by in our ratio of angles) is .

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Question

Points A and B lie on a circle centered at Z, where central angle <AZB measures 140°. What is the measure of angle <ZAB?

Answer

Because line segments ZA and ZB are radii of the circle, they must have the same length. That makes triangle ABZ an isosceles triangle, with <ZAB and <ZBA having the same measure. Because the three angles of a triangle must sum to 180°, you can express this in the equation:

140 + 2x = 180 --> 2x = 40 --> x = 20

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Question

In triangle ABC, Angle A = x degrees, Angle B = 2x degrees, and Angle C = 3x+30 degrees. How many degrees is Angle B?

Answer

Because the interior angles of a triangle add up to 180°, we can create an equation using the variables given in the problem: x+2x+(3x+30)=180. This simplifies to 6X+30=180. When we subtract 30 from both sides, we get 6x=150. Then, when we divide both sides by 6, we get x=25. Because Angle B=2x degrees, we multiply 25 times 2. Thus, Angle B is equal to 50°. If you got an answer of 25, you may have forgotten to multiply by 2. If you got 105, you may have found Angle C instead of Angle B.

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Question

Triangle FGH has equal lengths for FG and GH; what is the measure of ∠F, if ∠G measures 40 degrees?

Answer

It's good to draw a diagram for this; we know that it's an isosceles triangle; remember that the angles of a triangle total 180 degrees.

Angle G for this triangle is the one angle that doesn't correspond to an equal side of the isosceles triangle (opposite side to the angle), so that means ∠F = ∠H, and that ∠F + ∠H + 40 = 180,

By substitution we find that ∠F * 2 = 140 and angle F = 70 degrees.

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Question

The vertex angle of an isosceles triangle is . What is the base angle?

Answer

An isosceles triangle has two congruent base angles and one vertex angle. Each triangle contains . Let = base angle, so the equation becomes . Solving for gives

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Question

In an isosceles triangle the base angle is five less than twice the vertex angle. What is the sum of the vertex angle and the base angle?

Answer

Every triangle has 180 degrees. An isosceles triangle has one vertex angle and two congruent base angles.

Let = the vertex angle

and = base angle

So the equation to solve becomes

or

Thus the vertex angle is 38 and the base angle is 71 and their sum is 109.

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Question

An isosceles triangle has a base angle that is six more than three times the vertex angle. What is the base angle?

Answer

Every triangle has 180 degrees. An isosceles triangle has one vertex angle and two congruent base angles.

Let = vertex angle and = base angle.

Then the equation to solve becomes

or

.

Solving for gives a vertex angle of 24 degrees and a base angle of 78 degrees.

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Question

The base angle of an isosceles triangle is thirteen more than three times the vertex angle. What is the difference between the vertex angle and the base angle?

Answer

Every triangle has . An isosceles triangle has one vertex ange, and two congruent base angles.

Let be the vertex angle and be the base angle.

The equation to solve becomes , since the base angle occurs twice.

Now we can solve for the vertex angle.

The difference between the vertex angle and the base angle is .

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Question

Sides and in this triangle are equal. What is the measure of ?

Triangle_1

Answer

This triangle has an angle of . We also know it has another angle of at because the two sides are equal. Adding those two angles together gives us total. Since a triangle has total, we subtract 130 from 180 and get 50.

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Question

A particular acute isosceles triangle has an internal angle measuring . Which of the following must be the other two angles?

Answer

By definition, an acute isosceles triangle will have at least two sides (and at least two corresponding angles) that are congruent, and no angle will be greater than . Addtionally, like all triangles, the three angles will sum to . Thus, of our two answers which sum to , only is valid, as would violate the "acute" part of the definition.

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Question

Points A, B, C, D are collinear. The measure of ∠ DCE is 130° and of ∠ AEC is 80°. Find the measure of ∠ EAD.

Screen_shot_2013-03-18_at_3.27.08_pm

Answer

To solve this question, you need to remember that the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180°. You also need to remember supplementary angles. If you know what ∠ DCE is, you also know what ∠ ECA is. Hence you know two angles of the triangle, 180°-80°-50°= 50°.

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Question

In the triangle below, AB=BC (figure is not to scale) . If angle A is 41°, what is the measure of angle B?

A (Angle A = 41°)

Act_math_108_02

B C

Answer

If angle A is 41°, then angle C must also be 41°, since AB=BC. So, the sum of these 2 angles is:

41° + 41° = 82°

Since the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180°, you can find out the measure of the remaining angle by subtracting 82 from 180:

180° - 82° = 98°

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Question

Triangles

Points A, B, and C are collinear (they lie along the same line). The measure of angle CAD is 30^{\circ}. The measure of angle CBD is 60^{\circ}. The length of segment \overline{AD} is 4.

Find the measure of \dpi{100} \small \angle ADB.

Answer

The measure of \dpi{100} \small \angle ADB is 30^{\circ}. Since \dpi{100} \small A, \dpi{100} \small B, and \dpi{100} \small C are collinear, and the measure of \dpi{100} \small \angle CBD is 60^{\circ}, we know that the measure of \dpi{100} \small \angle ABD is 120^{\circ}.

Because the measures of the three angles in a triangle must add up to 180^{\circ}, and two of the angles in triangle \dpi{100} \small ABD are 30^{\circ} and 120^{\circ}, the third angle, \dpi{100} \small \angle ADB, is 30^{\circ}.

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Question

Two interior angles in an obtuse triangle measure 123^{\circ} and 11^{\circ}. What is the measurement of the third angle.

Answer

Interior angles of a triangle always add up to 180 degrees.

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Question

In a given triangle, the angles are in a ratio of 1:3:5. What size is the middle angle?

Answer

Since the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180^{\circ}, and given that the angles are in a ratio of 1:3:5, let the measure of the smallest angle be , then the following expression could be written:

x+3x+5x=180

9x=180

x=20

If the smallest angle is 20 degrees, then given that the middle angle is in ratio of 1:3, the middle angle would be 3 times as large, or 60 degrees.

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