Evidence of Math Proficiency

For Chapter 4 in Geometry, we focused on triangles, angles, and side

measurements. We learned how a triangle’s angles will change, how to find a side of a
triangle based on two other sides, quadratic factoring, and how to find area and
perimeter of triangles based on angles. We also started on tangents, the simplest form
of Trigonometry. These methods can help with a lot of different situations, particularly
building or designing.

The first part of this portfolio, you are told about ‘​Visualization​’, where you read
about a situation and imagine it and most of the time you will draw a diagram of it. Then
it gives you two different situations that you are told to make a diagram of.

The first diagram is made of a kid flying a kite. It tells you that the child is holding
the kite three feet above the ground on a string that is 100 feet long and the kite is 80
feet off the ground. With this information, I drew the picture below.
 As you can see in the picture, I labeled all of my diagram with the numbers given.
Then I realized with the diagram drawn that the kite and the child makes a triangle! The
only missing side is the bottom, so I drew that as red and the rest of the triangle as
green. I even realized there was a right angle in the triangle. With this information, I
decided to find the bottom line with the help of the Pythagorean Theorem. The
Pythagorean Theorem helps in a situation that a right triangle is missing a side. The
Theorem is set up as A²+B²=C². A and B represent the legs of the triangle and C stands
for the hypotenuse. I did the equation in the picture below.

As you can see, 80 is one leg, the missing one was B, and the hypotenuse was
103 because the string is 100 feet and it is being held 3 feet off of the ground. Using the
Pythagorean Theorem, I figured out that the missing side was 64.88 feet. Now I know
the child was standing 64.88 feet from where the kite was.

The next diagram the portfolio asked for was of a boat tied to a dock. The boat is 1
foot above water level and the dock is six feet above water level. The picture below is a
diagram I made of the scene I imagined.

As you can see, I labeled my boat floating 1 foot above the water and my dock
being 6 feet above the water. I found out with my picture that it again made a triangle! I
even found the right angle once again. But I am missing two sides in this situation. I
don’t have how far the boat is from the dock or the slant made from the boat to the
dock. Therefore, it is unsolvable with the Pythagorean Theorem.

The next problem in the portfolio shows triangle ABC with two points above it, D
and E. The questions asks for you to visualize the triangle being stretched from point A
to D and then to E. It also asks how it changes. The regular triangle is shown below.
To stretch angle A to D, I used a orange, as shown below.
 With this diagram, I could visualize what the triangle would look like if A was D. It’d
be stretched up taller and make D’s angle a lot smaller while B and C’s angles got
bigger. Then I stretched A to E in pink, shown below.
 With this drawing, I could see what it’d look like if A was E. The triangle would be
slanted towards the right. B and E’s angles would be smaller while C’s angle got bigger.

Next the portfolio talks about how it’s important to use visualization to re-orient
right triangles to help you identify which leg is ΔX and which leg is ΔY. With that
information, it gives some triangles and asks for you to re-orient them. The first one is
pictured below.
 As you can see, the first triangle was already oriented the correct way. So I redrew
it the same way in order to show which side was X and which was Y.
 As you can see, 9 was Y and 5 was X. The theta is in the top corner. The next
triangle, shown below, was a bit harder.

As you can see, this triangle was sideways. So in order to find X and Y, I had to
flip it right side up, as shown below.
 When I flipped the triangle, I found that 7 is Y and 3 is X. The theta is in the
bottom right corner. The third and last triangle was confusing at first, as shown below.

As shown, this triangle was not sideways or upside down. It was slanted and
balanced on its 90 degree angle. So for this triangle, I re-oriented it and labeled the X
and Y again. The diagram is below.
 As seen above, I had to flip the triangle until I found that 6 is Y and 5 is X. Theta is
in the top of the triangle.

The last question shows a pyramid. It asks you to show what it would look like if
you looked from above. The pyramid is shown below.
 When I thought about this, I thought the pyramids in Egypt. If you took a helicopter
up into the sky and looked down at the pyramids, what would you see? Well, you’d see
the square base and an X where all of the sides come together at the top. Below, I drew
my idea.