ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Triangles Videos 32 videos

Triangles
6458 Views

This video covers the different types of triangle. What makes a triangle isosceles, scalene, or equilateral? What about the different kinds of angl...

SOHCAHTOA
4616 Views

Sine is the opposite over the hypotenuse; cosine is the adjacent over the hypotenuse; and tangent is the opposite side over the adjacent side....

Proving Triangles Congruent
3286 Views

Someday you might be a big, fancy defense lawyer, and you'll have to prove that your client's triangle was congruent to the triangle in question. W...

See All

SAT Math 3.5 Geometry and Measurement 208 Views


Share It!


Description:

SAT Math 3.5 Geometry and Measurement

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here’s your shmoop du jour, brought to you by straws.

00:06

In our opinion, they totally suck.

00:09

An equilateral triangle can be made using three straws.

00:12

Two congruent equilateral triangles can be made using five straws.

00:16

What is the smallest number of straws needed to make six congruent equilateral triangles?

00:22

And here are the potential answers...

00:26

Okay, first of all…while we appreciate the effort, you can put the box of straws back where you found them.

00:32

We don’t need to be that…hands on.

00:34

Okay, they show us the triangle made out of three straws, and then the two triangles made out of 5.

00:39

The question asks us what is the least number of straws we can use to make six of these puppies?

00:44

Well, we could lay them all out in a row… that would be one way of doing it.

00:48

That would take… 13 total straws.

00:50

But… we have a sneaking feeling they’re looking for a trickier answer than that.

00:54

How else can we arrange these fellas?

00:56

All right… so if we keep adding them in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction instead…

01:01

…we wind up with a hexagon that appears to be divided into 6 equal pieces.

01:06

And that way, we only need a single straw to complete our final triangle…

01:09

…giving us a grand total of 12, which is unbeatable.

01:12

So our solution is choice B.

Related Videos

SAT Math 2.1 Geometry and Measurement
2779 Views

SAT Math 2.1 Geometry and Measurement. What is the measure of angle z in terms of x and y?

SAT Math 9.4 Algebra and Functions
1300 Views

SAT Math 9.4 Algebra and Functions

SAT Math 9.2 Algebra and Functions
377 Views

SAT Math 9.2 Algebra and Functions

SAT Math: Identifying an Equation for the Average of Two Percentages
23 Views

In 2014, the unemployment rate of one county in California was 7%. In another county, the unemployment rate was 11%. Which of the following express...

SAT Math: Which Equation Represents Profit?
13 Views

Angela is making cookies for a bake sale. She expects each batch of her cookies to sell for $40. It costs her $10 to make one batch of cookies, and...