The top section of an 8 cm by 6 cm rectangular sheet of paper is folded along a straight line so that when the top section lies flat on the bottom section, corner lies on top of corner . What is the length of the crease?
Solution
Suppose that the crease intersects at , at , and the line at . We want to determine the length of . Since folds on top of , then line segment folds on top of line segment , since after the fold corresponds with itself and corresponds with . This means that and must be perpendicular to at point . Since and , then right-angled triangles and are congruent (side-angle-side). Therefore, . Since , then right-angled triangles and are congruent too (angle-side-angle). Thus, and so . Since is right-angled at , then by the Pythagorean Theorem, since . Since , then . Now is similar to (common angle at and right angle), so or . Therefore, , so the length of the fold is or 7.5.
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