Question

Hey.

There is a right triangle (I draw a sketch in comments), I need to find AD length (AB and AC were given)

Answer 1

@terenzreignz

Answer 2

I think I can use two ways of finding area, like:

\[\frac{ AB*AC }{ 2}=\frac{ BC*AD }{ 2 }\]

I can find BC from pythagoras theorem, am I thinking right?

Answer 3

that looks very much right and a nice idea indeed

Answer 4

thanks for checking this out;)

Answer 5

np :) you could also use similar triangles and setup a proportion which is more usual..

Answer 6

That does work. I never would have thought of using area, I'd have gone for right triangle similarity. Way to think outside the box (or triangle haha)

Answer 7

either way you need to find the side BC first i guess

Answer 8

Uh,I was thinking about similarities but it made me a bit confused. How could I find it BD or DC anyways? they are not equal, right?

Answer 9

Once you have BC and AD, finding other sides becomes easy right ? if u feel uneasy about similar triangles, simply use pythagorean thm

Answer 10

Note that all the triangles we see in given diagram are right triangles

Answer 11

alright, thanks:)

Answer 12

use triangle ADB to solve BD :

BD^2 + AD^2 = AB^2

Answer 13

use triangle ADC to solve DC :

DC^2 + AD^2 = AC^2