McGraw Hill Glencoe Geometry, 2012
MH
McGraw Hill Glencoe Geometry, 2012 View details
2. Medians and Altitudes of Triangles
Continue to next subchapter

Exercise 51 Page 343

Use the fact that the x- and y-axes are perpendicular.

Example Graph:

Practice makes perfect

We are given that △ XYZ is a right triangle with the hypotenuse YZ. Therefore, we obtain that m∠ X=90^(∘). Additionally, the length of XY is b units long and the length of ZY is twice the length of XY, so it is 2b units long.

Let's put vertex X at the origin of the coordinate plane. Next, we can put the side XZ over the x-axis and XY over the y-axis. To place Z we measure 2b and to place Y we measure b.