Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 2.6 Junior Find the answer Canada

Two isosceles triangles each have at least one angle that measures 70°70\degree. In the first triangle, the measure in degrees of each of the remaining two angles is even. In the second triangle, the measure in degrees of each of the remaining two angles is odd. In the first triangle, the sum of the equal angles is SS. In the second triangle, the sum of the equal angles is TT. The value of S+TS+T is

Pick one

Solution

Isosceles triangles have two equal angles, and so the possibilities for these two triangles are:

1) The two equal angles are each equal to 70°70\degree, or

2) The two equal angles are each not equal to 70°70\degree.

(We note that a triangle can not have three angles measuring 70°70\degree since the sum of the three angles would be 3×70°=210°3\times70\degree=210\degree, which is greater than 180°180\degree.)

If the two equal angles are each equal to 70°70\degree, then the measure of the third angle is 180°2×70°=180°140°=40°180\degree-2\times70\degree=180\degree-140\degree=40\degree.

If the two equal angles are each not equal to 70°70\degree, then the sum of the measures of the two equal angles is 180°70°=110°180\degree-70\degree=110\degree, and so the measure of each of the equal angles is half of 110°110\degree or 55°55\degree.

We note that in the first triangle, the measure of each of the two remaining angles (70°70\degree and 40°40\degree) is even, and in the second triangle, the measure of each of the two remaining angles (55°55\degree and 55°55\degree) is odd.

In the first triangle, the sum of the two equal angles is S=70°+70°=140°S=70\degree+70\degree=140\degree.

In the second triangle, the sum of the two equal angles is T=55°+55°=110°T=55\degree+55\degree=110\degree.
The value of S+TS+T is 140°+110°=250°140\degree+110\degree=250\degree.

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