(1) Determine the area of each of the four original shapes. (A) Right Triangle: _______ (B) Right Triangle: _______ (C) Trapezoid: ____________ (D) Trapezoid: ____________ (2) Determine the area of each of the figures that you formed with the four shapes: (A) Square: _______________ (B) Rectangle: ____________ (C) Triangle: _____________ (D) Trapezoid: ____________ (E) Octagon: ______________ (F) Parallelogram: ________ (G) Another Triangle: _____
There appears to be a paradox! Some of the figures have 63
square units, some have 64 square units, and some have 65 square units.
Here are some solutions for the figures above: |
How do you explain this impossible situation?
Take a closer look at the first two figures -- the square and the rectangle.
The four pieces fit snugly together for the square.
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How can you prove this?
If the pieces indeed did fit together to form a rectangle, then the diagonal would be one line segment. If it is just one segment, then it would have just one slope, since the slope of a line is always the same. Determine the slopes of the four pieces that form "the" diagonal (the slopes should be 2/5, 2/5, 3/8, and 3/8). Notice that they are not the same. Therefore, it is not one segment (which can be seen in the drawing above). |
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