Am I stupid please help?

Question

I am constantly making SUPER silly mistakes in mathematics... like for example, our teacher wanted us to find 2 possible sides of a triangle given the hypotenuse sqrt3

so I used the pythagorean theorm and one...

but i set up the equation like this...

1 + b^2 = sqrt3

^ should be just three, since pythagorean therom says a^2 + b^2 = c^2

and then got some funky radical answer, because basically i said that a squared plus b squared just equals c... Im normally very good at math... but this doubts my intelligence, am i dumb?

Answer 1

nah, your not. we all get careless sometimes

Answer 2

You have it right ... your answers don't have to be integers.

if you use 1 as one side, then 1 + b^2 = 3 => b = sqrt(2)

if you use 1.5 as one side, then 1.5^2 + b^2 = 3 => b = sqrt(3-1.5^2)

Answer 3

Since the hypotenuse is sqrt(3) then the hypotenuse squared is 3, therefore you need two numbers that when squared add up to 3.  The two other sides must be 1 and sqrt(2).  

Answer 4

.it depends on the angles..

like a 30°-60°-90° triangle with a hypotenuse of sqrt3 would have two legs measuring 3/2 on the 30° side and sqrt3/2 on the 60° side

Answer 5

Everyone makes mistakes.

The smarter people recognize that they are included in "everyone",

so they check their work and catch their mistakes.

That is the important thing.

(Take for example all the people who thought you were asking for solutions to the triangle problem.

They did not read the question carefully enough

to see what you were really asking about.)

To check your answer, it's always good to find a second independent approach.

A simple example is adding up a bunch of numbers.

If you made a mistake and re-add them the same way,

you might repeat the same mistake and not catch it.

So either you add them in a different order, hitting

different subtotals, or you start with the total and subtract,

or pair them up so they add to 10's or 100's or something,

and if you end up with a different result, you keep going

until you're satisfied your got the right answer.

This particular mistake would be hard to catch,

because in checking things over you would probably

check that 1 + FR² = sqrt(3) and it would check out OK.

(FR = "funky radical").

So, you could find approximate numerical values for FR

and sqrt(3) and draw a triangle, measuring

carefully.  If it doesn't come out as a right triangle,

then something is wrong, and you go back and try again.

Or you could start by drawing a triangle with hypotenuse

of sqrt(3) and estimating the sides and then checking the

Pythagorean Theorem.  If you went at the problem enough

different ways, eventually you would find the right answer.

Remember this:

Assume you have done the problem wrong until proven otherwise,

rather than that you did it right and don't have to check.

=

Answer 6

Yes, you are stupid.   Can we help?  No!  Why? Because you're stupid..

Stop starting a question with "Am I stupid?"  We all have questions..None are stupid.

Peace

Answer 7

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

c = sqrt(3) so c^2 = 9

a^2 + b^2 = 9

if a = 1 then 1 + b^2 = 9 and b = SQRT(8) = 2SQRT(2)

if a = 2 then 4 + b^2 = 9 and b = SQRT(5)

not necessariloy dumb, you just have to more careful in your thinking. It is easy to make silly mistakes in math, I do it quite often. BUT if the answer seems to be strange it probably is because of some simple mistake (minus instead of plus, forgot a square root sign or some other little thing). If you work math problems you should always try to check the answer if possible. If there are mistakes your check should fail and you should be able to track down the mistake. Sometimes this can be a little difficult but that is the way math is. And when you do get the right answer it can feel pretty good.

Answer 8

No you're not...

b^2 = square root(3) - 1

b = square root(square root(3) - 1)

b = 0.855599677

You do get a complicated radical thing