Triangle Midsegment Action!
Use this applet to help you complete this investigation.
1) Interact with this applet for a few minutes. Be sure to change the locations of the triangle’s vertices each time before re-sliding the slider.
2) The orange segment that first appeared is said to be a midsegment of a triangle. Without looking up the definition on another site in your internet browser, complete the following sentence definition based solely upon your observations:
Definition: A midsegment of a triangle is…
3) What 2 conclusions can you informally conclude about the midsegment of any
triangle?
The midsegment of any triangle is
a) _________________ to the side of the triangle it doesn’t touch
b) _________________ the length of the side of the triangle it doesn’t touch.
4) How many midsegments does any triangle have? Why is this?
5) If the length of a midsegment of a triangle is 40 cm, what is the length of the side of the triangle it doesn't touch?
6) If the length of one side of a triangle is 100 feet, what is the length of the midsegment that does not touch that side?
BONUS:
7) Use a coordinate geometry setup (as is shown below) to prove the two claims (you
made in step 3) true. Here’s a setup to help you get started: