Math Help Special Triangles

[BGates14]

I have finals tomorrow and theres this one part to special triangles I'm still a little bit stuck at. For the 45 45 90 and the 30 60 90 triangles, on the side with the square root of 2 and square root of 3, if you were giving a problem that told you to find the other sides, and they only gave you say the number 10, as the side that is 60 degrees, how can you figure that out without using a calculator and just dividing by square root of 3?

 

[sanka]

Just give it as 10 root 3, you don't need the exact numbers.

 

[BGates14]

No you're trying to figure out the other sides, and the only number they give you is 10. To figure out the other side you would have to divide 10 by square root of 3, but how would you do that without a calculator? It has to do with perfect squares and stuff but I forget how to do it.

 

[Thelis]

Multiply top and bottom by the sqr root three. That way you get this:
___
10V3
3

 

[THEpiGUY]

Can you draw us a pretty picture in paint and upload it? I'm not quite sure what you're saying.

If you're just trying to divide 10 by the square root of three, it's 10*(sqrt[3])/3 (Look at the post below mine for a better representation ).

 

[Thelis]

 

[BGates14]

 

[THEpiGUY]

Ah, Thelis, my "draw a picture" was directed at BGates... If that was in response to me, sorry about that, I should've quoted.

And I think that's as reduced as you can get without using a calculator.

 

[Thelis]

Yeah, you can't go any farther. They want the exact answer, I am sure.

 

[sanka]

Well if you ever need to estimate, the square root of 3 is like 1.7

8-D