Processing math: 100%
 
+0  
 
0
647
1
avatar

In right triangle ABC, CAB is a right angle. Point M is the midpoint of ¯BC. What is the number of centimeters in the length of median ¯AM? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth

 

 

 Apr 26, 2020
 #1
avatar+659 
+2

BTW when you see a right triangle a thing I always do is imagine it is inscribed in a circle with the hypotenuse as the diameter. That's just what I do, no need to do what I do. But is always nice to do what I do, because doing what I do makes me feel like people exist. I like when people exist, especially people who do what I do.

 

Anyways, draw a segment from A to to a point on BC in such it way that it is perpendicular to the hypotenuse. We call the point of intersection on the hypotenuse L

 

This means ALBC

 - BC = 5 because it is a 3-4-5 triangle.

 

By AA similarity, we know that triangle ALC is similar to triangle ABC. To find AL, we write the following proportion:

AL3=45

 

Solving for AL: 

1. 5AL=12

2. AL=125

 

Now here is how you solve the rest:

1. Consider point M, that is the midpoint of BC. Because it is the midpoint, we know that CM=52

2. Use the pythagorean theorem to find CL     hint:AC2AL2

3. Now that you found CL, we can find LM by evaluating CMCL

4. Since you know AL and LM, you can easily find AM by pythagorean theorem.     hint: AL2+LM2

 

Yay

 Apr 27, 2020
edited by AnExtremelyLongName  Apr 27, 2020

1 Online Users