Similar Right Triangles (II)
Interact with the applet below for a few minutes, then answer the questions that follow.
Questions:
1) What is the sum of the measures of the red and green angles?
How do you know this to be true?
2) The segment that was drawn as you dragged the slider is called an altitude.
This altitude was drawn to the hypotenuse.
How many right triangles did this altitude split the original right triangle into?
3) What does the the special movement of the red and green angles imply about
these 2 smaller right triangle? What previously learned postulate or theorem justifies
your answer?
4) Does your response for (3) also hold true for the relationship between the ORIGINAL
BIG RIGHT TRIANGLE and either one of the smaller right triangles? If so, how/why
do you know this?