For his lunch, henry packed 2 apples and 2 pears. each of the 2 apples had a mass of 135 grams and each of the 2 pears had a mass of 160 grams. what was the mass of all of henry's fruit?
a) 270 grams
b) 295 grams
c) 320 grams
d) 590 grams

geometry: triangles

solvers

lessons

answers archive

call the larger triangle abc

then the smaller triangle cde is similar to abc (all angles are equal, aaa).  

ab is the side that is 36, and we wish to find de, the side corresponding to ab

area_cde = area_abc - area_cde --> area_abc / area_cde = 2

let x=length of de

ratio of areas = (ratio of sides)^2

+2+=+%2836%2fx%29%5e2+

+2+=+1296%2fx%5e2+

++x%5e2+=+1296%2f2+=+648+

25.45584