document.write( "Question 698434: 4.Cake.Carl has a piece of cake in the shape of an isosceles triangle with angles 26 ° ,77 ° , and 77 °. He wanted to divide it into two equal parts, so he cut it through the middle of the 26 ° angle to the midpoint of the opposite side. He says that because he is dividing it at the midpoint of a side, the two pieces are congruent. Is this enough information? Explain. please explain step by step. \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #430982 by sofiyac(983)![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! Carl is correct, he has cut the large piece into 2 equal smaller pieces. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "However, his explanation is not complete. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "What he drew was not only an angle bisector, but more importantly, a median! \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "When you draw a median of a triangle, it does indeed cut the other side into 2 equal segments. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "Now, Carl has 2 small triangles. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "But are they congruent? That is the question. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "Let's label our large triangle ABC, with A being the vertex with the 26 degree angle. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "Let's call the midpoint of the segment opposite vertex A, point D. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "Now, the 2 triangles that are formed are triangle ADB, and triangle ADC. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "Can we tell if these are congruent? We can, here's how: \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "AB is congruent to AC since it is an isoscoles triangle. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "BD is congruent to CD since D is the midpoint of BC. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " |