How to find an angle in an acute / obtuse isosceles triangle

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Math › How to find an angle in an acute / obtuse isosceles triangle

Questions 1 - 10
1

An isoceles triangle has a base angle that is twice the vertex angle. What is the sum of the base and vertex angles?

Explanation

All triangles have degrees. An isoceles triangle has one vertex angle and two congruent base angles.

Let vertex angle and base angle.

So the equation to solve becomes:

or

Thus for the vertex angle and for the base angle.

The sum of the vertex and one base angle is .

2

An isoceles triangle has a base angle that is degrees less than three times the vertex angle. What is the product of the vertex angle and the base angle?

Explanation

Every triangle has 180 degrees. An isoceles triangle has one vertex angle and two congruent base angles.

Let vertex angle and base angle.

Then the equation to solve becomes:

, or .

Then the vertex angle is , the base angle is , and the product is .

3

The base angle of an isosceles triangle is thirteen more than three times the vertex angle. What is the difference between the vertex angle and the base angle?

Explanation

Every triangle has . An isosceles triangle has one vertex ange, and two congruent base angles.

Let be the vertex angle and be the base angle.

The equation to solve becomes , since the base angle occurs twice.

Now we can solve for the vertex angle.

The difference between the vertex angle and the base angle is .

4

An isoceles triangle has a vertex angle that is degrees more than twice the base angle. What is the vertex angle?

Explanation

Every triangle has degrees. An isoceles triangle has one vertex angle and two congruent base angles.

Let base angle and vertex angle.

So the equation to solve becomes .

Thus the base angles are and the vertex angle is .

5

If an isosceles triangle has an angle measuring greater than 100 degrees, and another angle with a measuring degrees, which of the following is true?

Explanation

In order for a triangle to be an isosceles triangle, it must contain two equivalent angles and one angle that is different. Given that one angle is greater than 100 degrees: Thus, the sum of the other two angles must be less than 80 degrees. If an angle is represented by :

6

Triangle FGH has equal lengths for FG and GH; what is the measure of ∠F, if ∠G measures 40 degrees?

140 degrees

70 degrees

40 degrees

100 degrees

None of the other answers

Explanation

It's good to draw a diagram for this; we know that it's an isosceles triangle; remember that the angles of a triangle total 180 degrees.

Angle G for this triangle is the one angle that doesn't correspond to an equal side of the isosceles triangle (opposite side to the angle), so that means ∠F = ∠H, and that ∠F + ∠H + 40 = 180,

By substitution we find that ∠F * 2 = 140 and angle F = 70 degrees.

7

An isosceles triangle has a vertex angle that is twenty degrees more than twice the base angle. What is the sum of the vertex and base angles?

40

Explanation

All triangles contain degrees. An isosceles triangle has one vertex angle and two congruent base angles.

Let and .

So the equation to solve becomes .

We get and , so the sum of the base and vertex angles is .

8

An isosceles triangle has a base angle that is six more than three times the vertex angle. What is the base angle?

Explanation

Every triangle has 180 degrees. An isosceles triangle has one vertex angle and two congruent base angles.

Let = vertex angle and = base angle.

Then the equation to solve becomes

or

.

Solving for gives a vertex angle of 24 degrees and a base angle of 78 degrees.

9

In triangle ABC, Angle A = x degrees, Angle B = 2x degrees, and Angle C = 3x+30 degrees. How many degrees is Angle B?

105°

30°

50°

25°

45°

Explanation

Because the interior angles of a triangle add up to 180°, we can create an equation using the variables given in the problem: x+2x+(3x+30)=180. This simplifies to 6X+30=180. When we subtract 30 from both sides, we get 6x=150. Then, when we divide both sides by 6, we get x=25. Because Angle B=2x degrees, we multiply 25 times 2. Thus, Angle B is equal to 50°. If you got an answer of 25, you may have forgotten to multiply by 2. If you got 105, you may have found Angle C instead of Angle B.

10

Points A and B lie on a circle centered at Z, where central angle <AZB measures 140°. What is the measure of angle <ZAB?

15°

20°

25°

30°

Cannot be determined from the given information

Explanation

Because line segments ZA and ZB are radii of the circle, they must have the same length. That makes triangle ABZ an isosceles triangle, with <ZAB and <ZBA having the same measure. Because the three angles of a triangle must sum to 180°, you can express this in the equation:

140 + 2x = 180 --> 2x = 40 --> x = 20

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