HOPE Charter School Tuesday, March 31, 2009

2009 PSSA Boot Camp

PSSA Math Reporting Categories:

A Numbers and Operations
B Measurement
√ C Geometry
D Algebraic Concepts
E Data Analysis and Probability

SOLUTIONS
Name (legibly printed): _______________________________________________

Seminar (circle one): Ackerman Beals Capers Harvey Hickson

Instructions:
• Place your solution into box in front of main office by end of 4th period today.
• Winner will be announced during 6th period lunch today. Winner will be
randomly selected from all entries, but the answer must be correct and justified
(SHOW WORK OR EXPLAIN).
• Link with questions and solutions posted at http://hopecharter.blogspot.com

A square has diagonal of 8 units. What is its area?

A 16 units2
B 32 units2
C 16 2 units2
D 32 2 units2

Some solutions:

For a square, Area = s2, but we do not know s, the length of the side.

(NEXT PAGE)
Method 1: Notice that this involves a special right triangle

A diagonal of a square makes two isosceles right triangles with legs = s and diagonal = 8.
This is a 45o-45o-90o special right triangle with proportional sides of 1x-1x- 2 x.

The 2 x side (hypotenuse) is similar to the diagonal=8, so

2x = 8
8
x=
2
8 2
x= •
2 2
8 2
x=
2
x=4 2
Therefore the side (each triangle leg) is 4 2 and
( )
2
Area = 4 2 = 32

Method 2: Not noticing the special right triangle, but using the Pythagorean
Theorem
a 2 + b2 = c 2
s 2 + s 2 = diagonal2
2 s 2 = diagonal2
2 s 2 = 82
2 s 2 = 64
2 s 2 64
=
2 2
s 2 = 32
s = ± 32
s = + 16 2
s=4 2
and
( )
2
Area = 4 2 = 32