by jnelson0612 Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:02 pm
Sahana,
Do you have a good math review book? If you do, you will find that 45-45-90 and 30-60-90 triangles have very specific rules associated with them. Specifically:
1) A 45-45-90 triangle has one right angle (which opens to the longest side, or the hypoteneuse) and two equal legs. The lengths of these three sides are expressed as x, x, and xsqrt2, with x across from the 45 degree angles and xsqrt2 across from the 90 degree angle. So for example, we could have 5, 5, 5sqrt2 as the lengths of this triangle.
2) A 30-60-90 triangle's side proportions are different:
a) The 30 degree angle opens to a side we can consider x.
b) The 60 degree angle opens to a side that is xsqrt3.
c) The 90 degree angle opens to a side that is 2x.
For example, this triangle could have lengths 4, 4sqrt3, 8.
This sort of review is really beyond the scope of this forum, so I recommend you either consult our Geometry strategy guide or any good basic geometry book to learn more about these types of special right triangles. They are very important to know for the GMAT.
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor