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SAT Math 3.5 Geometry and Measurement 208 Views
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Description:
SAT Math 3.5 Geometry and Measurement
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?
Full Transcript
- 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.
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