ABC is an isosceles triangle - OCR - GCSE Maths - Question 19 - 2021 - Paper 1
Question 19
ABC is an isosceles triangle.
The sides of the triangle ABC are all tangents to a circle of radius 6 cm, centre O.
Angle BAC = 70° and BA = BC.
(a) Show that leng... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:ABC is an isosceles triangle - OCR - GCSE Maths - Question 19 - 2021 - Paper 1
Step 1
Show that length BO is 17.54 cm, correct to 2 decimal places.
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Answer
To find BO in triangle AOB, we use the fact that triangle ABC is isosceles and the radius of the circle is 6 cm.
In triangle AOB, angle AOB can be calculated as follows:
Since angle BAC is 70°, angle AOB must be equal to 180° - 2(70°) = 40°.
Using the properties of tangents, AO and BO are equal because both are tangents drawn from point A and B to the circle at point O. Let's denote BO as x (length of the tangent).
Using the cosine rule:
For triangle AOB:
AB2=AO2+OB2−2(AO)(OB)cos(AOB)
where AO = 6 cm and OB = BO = x.
Thus:
AB2=62+x2−2(6)(x)cos(40°)
To find AB, we can use the tangential properties: AB = AC = (6 cm + x cm)
Therefore, substituting:
(6+x)2=62+x2−2(6)(x)cos(40°)
Expanding and simplifying we get:
36+12x+x2=36+x2−12∗x∗cos(40°)
which simplifies down to:
12x=12∗x∗cos(40°)
thus:
=17.54cmext(to2decimalplaces).
Step 2
Find the area of triangle ABC.
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Answer
To find the area of triangle ABC, we can use the formula for the area of a triangle:
ext{Area} = rac{1}{2} imes ext{base} imes ext{height}
The base can be considered as AC.
Since AC is also equal to 6 cm + BO (where BO = 17.54 cm):
extbase=6+17.54extcm=23.54extcm
To find the height from point B to line AC, we can use the formula:
For an angle of 70° at point B, the height can be calculated as:
h=BOimessin(70°)=17.54imessin(70°)
Thus, substituting this into the area formula:
ext{Area} = rac{1}{2} imes 23.54 imes h
After substituting and calculating:
extAreaextcanbecomputed.