1988 AMC 8 Problem 9

Attempt Problem 9 of the 1988 AMC 8 below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 1988 AMC 8 solutions, or check the answer key.

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9.

An isosceles triangle is a triangle with two sides of equal length. How many of the five triangles on the square grid below are isosceles?

11

22

33

44

55

Answer: D
Concepts:isosceles triangledistance formula
Difficulty rating: 960
Solution:

Read each triangle's side lengths from the grid. A horizontal or vertical side is counted directly, and a slanted side spanning aa units across and bb units up has length a2+b2.\sqrt{a^2 + b^2}.

Top-left triangle: its two slanted sides each span 11 across and 22 up, so each has length 5,\sqrt{5}, with a base of length 2.2. Two equal sides, so it is isosceles.

Top-middle triangle: it has a vertical side of length 22 and a horizontal side of length 22 (its third side is the slant 222\sqrt{2}). Two equal sides, so it is isosceles.

Top-right triangle: its sides are 2,2, 5,\sqrt{5}, and 13,\sqrt{13}, which are all different, so it is not isosceles.

Bottom-left (wide, flat) triangle: its two slanted sides each span 33 across and 11 up, so each has length 10.\sqrt{10}. Two equal sides, so it is isosceles.

Bottom-right triangle: two of its sides each span 22 and 11 (giving length 5\sqrt{5}), while the third is 10.\sqrt{10}. Two equal sides, so it is isosceles.

Four of the five triangles are isosceles.

Thus, the correct answer is D .

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