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jmc

prealgebra senior

Problem

The figure shows rectangle with segment dividing the rectangle into two congruent squares. How many right triangles can be drawn using three of the points as vertices?
problem
Solution
First, we consider the triangles that have the vertices of the rectangle as the right angle. We can get right triangles for each vertex. For example, for vertex , we can get right triangles and . Since there are four vertices, we can get right triangles.

Next, we consider triangles that have or as the vertices. We can set as a leg of the right triangles and get right triangles with the third vertex , and .

Lastly, we can draw the diagonals , and . Since and are squares, each diagonal creates a degree angle with the line segment . Therefore, we have two right triangles: and .

Adding them together, we have a total of
Final answer
14 \text{ right triangles}