Geostix in GeoGebra D
This applet (along with three others) allows you to explore 'digital' Geostix. Traditionally, Geostix comprise six plastic sticks of different lengths that clip together: orange [1 unit], purple [sqrt(2) units], green [sqrt(3) units], yellow [2 units], blue [sqrt(6) units] and red [2sqrt(2) units]. Here we see some of the 26 possible isosceles triangles that can be made from these sticks (and the other triangles can be explored on the other three applets).
Move each triangle by dragging the blue cross, and rotate it using the green circle.
- What do you notice about the triangles?
- Which ones are similar?
- How can they be arranged according to (i) their angles and (ii) their areas?
- What is special about the lengths of the sticks?