McGraw Hill Integrated II, 2012
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McGraw Hill Integrated II, 2012 View details
1. Angles of Triangles
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Exercise 38 Page 341

Find the value of x first.

Obtuse, see solution.

Practice makes perfect

The triangle appears to be obtuse, but since the diagram may not be to scale, we need to find the angle measures. To do so, we will start by finding the value of x.

Finding x

The Triangle Angle-Sum Theorem tells us that the measures of the interior angles of a triangle add up to 180^(∘). Let's set the sum of the given expressions equal to 180^(∘) and solve the resulting equation for x. For simplicity, we will ignore the degree symbol for this calculation.
(15x+1)+(6x+5)+(4x-1)=180
Solve for x
15x+1+6x+5+4x-1=180
25x+5=180
25x=175
x=7

Classifying the Triangle

To classify the triangle by its angles, we will substitute x=7 into the expressions to find the angle measures.

Expression Angle Measure Angle Type
15x+1 15(7)+1=106 obtuse
6x+5 6(7)+5=47 acute
4x-1 4(7)-1=27 acute
Since one of the angles is obtuse, this is an obtuse triangle.

Extra

Classification of Triangles
Triangles can be classified either according to their side lengths or to their internal angle measures.
Interactive triangle with one movable vertex
The following table lists all the different types of triangles by their corresponding classification.
Classification of Triangles
Scalene Triangle A scalene triangle is a triangle in which all three sides have different lengths.
Isosceles Triangle An isosceles triangle is a triangle that has two congruent sides.
Equilateral Triangle An equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all the sides are congruent.
Acute Triangle An acute triangle is a triangle where all angles are less than 90^(∘) or π2.
Obtuse Triangle An obtuse triangle is a triangle with exactly one an angle whose measure is greater than 90^(∘) or π2.
Right Triangle A right triangle is a specific type of triangle that contains one angle of 90^(∘).