McGraw Hill Integrated II, 2012
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McGraw Hill Integrated II, 2012 View details
5. The Triangle Inequality
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Exercise 32 Page 450

Using the Triangle Inequality Theorem, calculate the possible distance of the second route and then subtract the distance of the first route.

From 0 to 12 miles.

Practice makes perfect

Let's start with analyzing the given diagram. We are given the measures of two sides of the triangle.

To find the possible measure of the third side, let's recall what the Triangle Inequality Theorem states. The sum of the lengths of any two sides of a triangle must be greater than the length of the third side.

Let the distance between Aisha's house and the park along Main Street be y miles. Now we can use the above theorem to form three inequalities true for the triangle on the diagram. 6+7.5>y 6+y>7.5 7.5+y>6 We will solve these inequalities by isolating y on one side of each inequality.

Inequality Solution Set
6+7.5>y 13.5>y
6+y>7.5 y>1.5
7.5+y>6 y>- 1.5

Let's graph these solution sets and find the common solutions.

We can see that all three lines overlap on the segment from 1.5 to 13.5. We conclude that the distance from Aisha's house to the park along Main Street is between 1.5 to 13.5 miles. If Aisha's riding to the park along Route 3 and Clay Road, she will ride the sum of 7.5 and 6 miles. 7.5+6=13.5miles The maximum distance of the second route is 13.5 miles. In this case, the additional distance is the following. 13.5-13.5=0miles The minimum distance of the second route is 1.5 miles. Subtracting this value from 13.5, we can calculate the additional distance Aisha would need to ride. 13.5-1.5=12miles Thus, the additional distance is between 0 and 12 miles.