Right-angled request
Weekly Problem 26 - 2006
How many right angled triangles are formed by the points in this diagram?
How many right angled triangles are formed by the points in this diagram?
Problem
Image
The figure shows a rectangle PRSU with a line QT, which divides the rectangle into two squares.
How many right-angle triangles can be drawn using any three points P, Q, R, S, T, U as corners?
If you liked this problem, here is an NRICH task which challenges you to use similar mathematical ideas.
Student Solutions
Four right-angled triangles can be drawn in each of the squares, plus four formed from two adjacent sides of the rectangle - that makes 12.
Then there are two right-angled triangles formed by joining the points UQS and PTR.
This makes a total of 14 triangles.