Three Way Split

Take any point P inside an equilateral triangle. Draw PA, PB and PC from P perpendicular to the sides of the triangle where A, B and C are points on the sides. Prove that PA + PB + PC is a constant.

Isosceles

Prove that a triangle with sides of length 5, 5 and 6 has the same area as a triangle with sides of length 5, 5 and 8. Find other pairs of non-congruent isosceles triangles which have equal areas.

Pareq Calc

Triangle ABC is an equilateral triangle with three parallel lines going through the vertices. Calculate the length of the sides of the triangle if the perpendicular distances between the parallel lines are 1 unit and 2 units.

Weekly Problem 23 - 2008

Stage: 3 and 4 Challenge Level:

Let $O$ be the centre of the circle.
Then $\angle POR=90^{\circ}$ as the angle subtended by an arc at the centre of a circle is twice the angle subtended by that arc at a point on the circumference of the circle.
So triangle $POR$ is an isosceles right-angled triangle with $PO=RO=4cm$. Let the length of $PR$ be $x$ cm.
Then, by Pythagoras' Theorem, $x^2=4^2+4^2=2 \times 4^2$ and so $x=4\sqrt{2}$.

This problem is taken from the UKMT Mathematical Challenges.

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