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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

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.

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