SOLUTION: if the perimeter of a rhombus is 40 cm and one of its diagonals is 12cm, find the other diagonal

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Question 1089943: if the perimeter of a rhombus is 40 cm and one of its diagonals is 12cm, find the other diagonal
Found 2 solutions by ikleyn, MathLover1:
Answer by ikleyn(52781) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
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1.  Since the sides of each rhombus have the same measures, the side length is 1%2F4 of the perimeter, i.e. 10 cm.


2.  In each rhombus, diagonals divide it in four congruent right-angled triangles.

    As we just found, the hypotenuse of each such triangle is 10 cm.

    One leg of each such triangle is half of the diagonal of 12 cm long, i.e. has the length of 6 cm.



3.  Thus we have a right-angled triangle with the hypotenuse of 10 cm and one leg of 6 cm.

    Hence, the other leg is sqrt%2810%5E2-6%5E2%29 = 8 cm long.



4.  Then the length of the other diagonal of the rhombus is twice 8 cm, i.e. 16 cm.

Answer. The other diagonal is 16 cm long.

Solved.


On properties of rhombis, see the lesson
    - Diagonals of a rhombus are perpendicular
    - Diagonals of a rhombus bisect its angles
in this site.


Also,  you have this free of charge online textbook on Geometry
    GEOMETRY - YOUR ONLINE TEXTBOOK
in this site.

The referred lessons are the part of this textbook under the topic "Properties of rhombis".



Answer by MathLover1(20849) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

A rhombus is a flat shape with 4 equal straight sides.
Opposite sides are parallel, and opposite angles are equal (it is a parallelogram).
And the diagonals "p" and "q" of a rhombus bisect each other at right angles.
Perimeter: P+=+4s
if the perimeter of a rhombus is 40cm and one of its diagonals is 12cm, we have:
4s=40cm
s=40cm%2F4
s=10cm
so, we have:
side s=10cm
diagonal p=12cm
since s, p%2F2, and q%2F2 form right triangle, we can find q%2F2 using Pythagorean theorem:
s%5E2=%28q%2F2%29%5E2%2B%28p%2F2%29%5E2
%2810cm%29%5E2-%2812cm%2F2%29%5E2=%28q%2F2%29%5E2
%28q%2F2%29%5E2=100cm%5E2-%286cm%29%5E2
%28q%2F2%29%5E2=100cm%5E2-36cm%5E2
%28q%2F2%29%5E2=64cm%5E2
q%2F2=sqrt%2864cm%5E2%29
q%2F2=8cm
q=8cm%2A2
q=16cm
so, the length of the other diagonal is 16cm