Research Links

  

This is what the author called a trick question.  The sum of the distances are constant.  To see why draw in lines from the vertices of the original triangles forming subtriangles T1,T2,T3.  

Now the sum of the areas of T1,T2,T3 = area of original equilateral triangle which is constant for this problem.  Since the area of a triangle is Base * Height 

A_T1+A_T2+A_T3 = A_Equilateral

B*H_T1+B*H_T2+B*H_T3 = A_Equilateral

H_T1+H_T2+H_T3 = A_Equilateral/B= H_Equilateral 

So it does not matter where you place the house.

I became curious about other types of triangles.  The solution for a 3-4-5 right triangle.

Categories: MathPuzzles

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *