| Title: | Mathematics at DEC |
| Moderator: | RUSURE::EDP |
| Created: | Mon Feb 03 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 2083 |
| Total number of notes: | 14613 |
Can you please help a "foreigner" like myself with some English terms?
Having a triangle ABC, how do you call in English:
1. The line segment that connects A with the mid point of BC?
2. The line segment that splits the angle in A exactly in the middle?
3. The line segment that starts at A and has a right angle with BC?
(is it called the "height" that starts at A?)
and the real question I saw long ago (without the solution) is:
Given the above three segments, how do you *build* (is that the correct
term again?) the triangle?
/Nitsan
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1685.1 | how I'd word things | HANNAH::OSMAN | see HANNAH::IGLOO$:[OSMAN]ERIC.VT240 | Wed Oct 28 1992 13:53 | 33 |
Suppose triangle is A B x z y C Assume angle AxB is 90, and that angle yAC equals angle yAB and that segment Bz equals segment zC in length. I'd describe line Ax by saying Drop a perpendicular from A to line BC. This Ax line is a height of the triangle. I'd describe line Ay as the bisector of the angle BAC. Note that we use the word "line" here to indicate what Euclidean geometry calls a "line segment", but in common English, a straight set of points from one point to another is commonly called a "line", as in "please draw a straight line from A to B". I'd describe z as the midpoint of segment BC, but I don't know of a common word for segment Az. I would say "draw a segment from A to the midpoint of BC". If you want to pose a construction problem, I might pose it like this: Given point A, and the three segments, Ax, Ay, and Az, where Ax is the height of a triangle ABC, and Ay bisects angle BAC, and z is the midpoint of segment BC, construct points B and C, using only a straight edge and compass. /Eric | |||||
| 1685.2 | I can't remember how to solve it, but here's how to ask it! | SGOUTL::BELDIN_R | D-Day: 154 days and counting | Wed Oct 28 1992 14:09 | 14 |
1. Median to BC
2. Bisector of angle BAC
3. Height (relative to BC as base).
We would understand "build" but most would say "construct".
If the vertices of a triangle are labeled A, B, and C, and
you are given:
AM, the median to BC,
AP, the bisector of <BAC, and
AH, the height above BC,
how would you construct <| ABC?
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| 1685.3 | Addendum | VMSDEV::HALLYB | Fish have no concept of fire. | Wed Oct 28 1992 14:30 | 1 |
3. I've also heard the term "altitude" used instead of "height". | |||||
| 1685.4 | SGOUTL::BELDIN_R | D-Day: 154 days and counting | Wed Oct 28 1992 14:44 | 3 | |
Altitude is probably more common than height, in fact.
Dick
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