Circle; Triangle; Angle Problem

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by ArunangsuSahu » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:48 pm
Ans is 70 degree.. Try with options and satisfy for x

(D) is the answer

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by Mugwump303 » Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:38 pm
Is there a different way than to guess and check? Or is that the only way?

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by pemdas » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:07 pm
this question took me exactly under 2 minutes

see pic
Mugwump303 wrote:Is there a different way than to guess and check? Or is that the only way?
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by Mugwump303 » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:24 pm
One question. How do we know that the line at the bottom of the right triangle is parallel to the line crossing the center?

And by the "line at the bottom of the right triangle" I mean the line that makes up the 90 degree angle of the biggest triangle. And by the "line crossing the center" I mean the line that goes from B to O to the other side of the circle.

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by pemdas » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:14 pm
who you are asking?

my solution doesn't show any parallelism :roll:

why you'd bother with such kind of info, when it's simple and laid right in front of you

[spoiler]if GMAT question takes you more than 2 minutes even the hardest one, something is wrong with your approach or you are missing concept needed to apply for this question
[/spoiler]
Mugwump303 wrote:One question. How do we know that the line at the bottom of the right triangle is parallel to the line crossing the center?

And by the "line at the bottom of the right triangle" I mean the line that makes up the 90 degree angle of the biggest triangle. And by the "line crossing the center" I mean the line that goes from B to O to the other side of the circle.
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by Mugwump303 » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:21 pm
pemdas wrote:who you are asking?

my solution doesn't show any parallelism :roll:

why you'd bother with such kind of info, when it's simple and laid right in front of you

[spoiler]if GMAT question takes you more than 2 minutes even the hardest one, something is wrong with your approach or you are missing concept needed to apply for this question
[/spoiler]
Mugwump303 wrote:One question. How do we know that the line at the bottom of the right triangle is parallel to the line crossing the center?

And by the "line at the bottom of the right triangle" I mean the line that makes up the 90 degree angle of the biggest triangle. And by the "line crossing the center" I mean the line that goes from B to O to the other side of the circle.
But then how do you know that E is 50 degrees? You'd have to think that the smaller triangle is a right triangle. But how do you know that the smaller triangle is a right triangle?

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by LalaB » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:35 pm
everyone easily found angle 20.
what I do next-

see the very small triangle near x. here we found that one of its angle is 20, x and another angle of that triangle are vertical (so, they are equal)

so now we know that angles of that small triangle are-

20+x+90=180

x=70

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by Mugwump303 » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:46 pm
LalaB wrote:everyone easily found angle 20.
what I do next-

see the very small triangle near x. here we found that one of its angle is 20, x and another angle of that triangle are vertical (so, they are equal)

so now we know that angles of that small triangle are-

20+x+90=180

x=70
Well actually, finding the 20 was what I had a problem with. If we know that E is 50 degrees then we just have 20 + 50 + 90 + ? = 180. ? = 20. But what I don't understand is how we know that E is 50 degrees. We could only know this if we're sure that the small triangle inside the big triangle is a right triangle. But how are we sure that it is?

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by LalaB » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:54 pm
@Mugwump303
I didnt mean the triangle with E.(so, no need to find E)

my triangle is veerrry small and next to x angle.

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by Mugwump303 » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:04 am
LalaB wrote:@Mugwump303
I didnt mean the triangle with E.(so, no need to find E)

my triangle is veerrry small and next to x angle.
How did you find the 20 degree angle of the small triangle then?

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by LalaB » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:20 am
Mugwump303 wrote:
LalaB wrote:@Mugwump303
I didnt mean the triangle with E.(so, no need to find E)

my triangle is veerrry small and next to x angle.
How did you find the 20 degree angle of the small triangle then?
please see above the pic attached by pemdas. please take a look at the triangle with angles 20-20-140
the left small triangle with the same angle 20 is the triangle mentioned by me.

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by Mugwump303 » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:46 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... L0GTaYpTpM

I posted a youtube video trying to explain where I got stuck if anybody wants to look at it. Thanks.

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by LalaB » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:52 am
I am sorry, but I have no headphones. so, I watched ur video without a sound. hope I got what u asked in that video )))

please take a look at the big right triangle, and the triangle with angle E. see they are similar (here u can find the discussion of similar triangles-https://www.beatthegmat.com/triangle-2-d ... tml#439081). it means that the triangle with angle E must be a right triangle also )

hope it helps

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by Mugwump303 » Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:11 am
LalaB wrote:I am sorry, but I have no headphones. so, I watched ur video without a sound. hope I got what u asked in that video )))

please take a look at the big right triangle, and the triangle with angle E. see they are similar (here u can find the discussion of similar triangles-https://www.beatthegmat.com/triangle-2-d ... tml#439081). it means that the triangle with angle E must be a right triangle also )

hope it helps
Here's the thing I don't get. How do we know that the smaller triangle has to have all the same angles as the big triangle? That would mean that the line that goes through OB is parallel to the line at the base of the big triangle. But why does that have to be? Is there some property of circles, triangles or angles that I don't know about?