im bored.. any1 have a challengingish math problem that a highschool student might be able to solve... my math class although honors is quite sad.. the class considers the simplest of problems complicated...

well anyways as i said im bored and feel like a challenge

what math ar you in

 

 

if your in calc you could play with this one.

 

your on a baseball diamond, a runner runs from first to 3rd base, at what rate does the distance between the pitcher and the runner change?

3 + 4 - 1 = ?

 

How's that?

Or you could try something like this:

http://www.scienceforums.net/showthread.php?t=23622

Yeah I will put up a new physics problem tomorrow. You're welcome to participate dumbman29.

3 + 4 - 1 = ?

 

OOH OOOOOH I KNOW THIS ONE!

 

6

 

*high fives*

wow wasnt on for a day and got 5 responses lol... well im in geometry so i dont know a ton but i can probably figure a little bit out in most classes via the internet (gotta love it)

Geometry eh, well urm. Let's say you have a unit circle (one with a radius of 1), and two lines that meet the circle at opposite sides. One of the lines is a tangent to the circle, the other isn't. The two lines meet, as lines do, at an angle of forty five degrees. How far along the tangent line, from the point where it touches the circle, do the lines meet? (that question is actually incredibly simple if you can make sense of it)

Hmm...dats hard! Please enlighten us...

eh.. whats tangent mean?

Tangent means a slope that touches a curve at one point.

Not exactly...a tangent to a polynomial may intersect at more than 1 point. A tangent is best defined as the limiting Secant PQ as P approaches a stationary point Q. P and Q are points.

Not exactly...a tangent to a polynomial may intersect at more than 1 point. A tangent is best defined as the limiting Secant PQ as P approaches a stationary point Q. P and Q are points.

 

You're just saying it in a different way, rather much too fancier for a person who never hears "tangent" before. Keep it simple for newbies please.

A tangent is a straight line that meets with a curve at a point and has the same gradient as the curve at that point.

or in the case of a circle a line thats perpendicular to the radius and only touches one point on the circle.

Hahaa, never thought each person would describe a tangent in many different ways!!

Well my way was better, in case anyone hasn't worked it out already, my question simply described a right angled triangle, with a side of 2 units and an oposite angle of 40 degrees, to find the lenght of the ajacent side is just simple trig.

haha lol your way of defining a tangent better? Or your question? If it was your tangent definition? Have you heard of the Floor function? Your definition fails there.

in my 10th grade plane geometry class i was told the rules of construction.

things like bisecting a line segment or angle using a compass and a straight edge.

i was told that trisecting a line segment was not possible.

i think i have figured out a method to trisect a line segment.

does anyone know what i'm talking about?

is plane geometry taught anymore and where can i find out if trisecting was really thought to be impossible.

to bored, i worked on this for years it may be simple but if your bored i could use some help.maybe ask your instuctor.

 

thanks to all.

in my 10th grade plane geometry class i was told the rules of construction.

things like bisecting a line segment or angle using a compass and a straight edge.

i was told that trisecting a line segment was not possible.

i think i have figured out a method to trisect a line segment.

does anyone know what i'm talking about?

is plane geometry taught anymore and where can i find out if trisecting was really thought to be impossible.

to bored, i worked on this for years it may be simple but if your bored i could use some help.maybe ask your instuctor.

 

thanks to all.

 

Trisecting a line segment is not easy, but there are several methods.

 

Perhaps you are referring to trisecting an angle. It can be proved that that is an impossible task using just a compass and straightedge.

But possible with a slightly more powerful geometry of origami

once a line segment is trisected, the angle is done by constructing a line segment between two points, one on each leg, equal distance from the apex.

then trisect the segment and constuct lines through the two points on the segment and the apex.

 

can anyone tell me where i might find these known methods.

 

thanks,

wilgory

wilgory, 'trisecting a line segment' in Google or your favorite web search engine comes up with many, many examples. 'trisecting an angle' in the same search engines, should bring up the proof (all the way back in the 1800's!) why using just a compass and straightedge, it is impossible to trisect an angle.

 

Ragib, can an angle be trisected via origami because basically it uses the thrid dimension? With the folding up and down and so forth, really it is using an extra dimension unavailable to just a compass and straighedge.

Thanks Bignose,

My previous searches were not narrow enough, which is a valuble lesson learned.

While my method was not unique, and is considered an approximation, it is still an acheivment in my mind as I developed it myself.

After all, anything "I" do with a compass and staightedge is again "in my mind" an approximation. Just consider the varying widths of pencil lead "graphite".

Dividing a line segment into any number of parts is simple enough. Trisecting an angle isn't.