HOPE Charter School Wednesday, April 1, 2009

2009 PSSA Boot Camp

PSSA Math Reporting Categories:

A Numbers and Operations
B Measurement
√ C Geometry
√ D Algebraic Concepts
E Data Analysis and Probability

SOLUTIONS
Name (legibly printed): _______________________________________________

Seminar (circle one): Ackerman Beals Capers Harvey Hickson

Instructions:
• Place your solution into box in front of main office by end of 4th period today.
• Winner will be announced during 6th period lunch today. Winner will be
randomly selected from all entries, but the answer must be correct and justified
(SHOW WORK OR EXPLAIN).
• Link with questions and solutions posted at http://hopecharter.blogspot.com

Using the following figure, what is the value of ( x + y + z ) − ( a + b + c ) ?

A -180
B 0
C 180
D 360

Solutions:

Method 1: seeing there are exterior angles in the illustration

From geometry, the sum of the three interior angles of a triangle equal 180° , so:
a + b + c = 180° [1]
This is the right term of the desired binomial expression ( x + y + z ) − ( a + b + c )

From geometry, the exterior angle is the sum of the two opposite interior angles. There
are three of these relationships in the above illustration:
x= b +c [2]
y= a +c [3]
z = a +b [4]
The addition of equations [2], [3], and [4] will yield the left term of the desired binomial
expression ( x + y + z ) − ( a + b + c ) , so

x + y + z = 2a + 2b + 2c [5]
x + y + z = 2(a + b + c) [6]

Substituting [1] and [6] into the original binomial expression yields:
( x + y + z ) − (a + b + c)
2(a + b + c) − (a + b + c)
a+b+c
180°

Method 2: not seeing there are exterior angles in the illustration

From geometry, the sum of the three interior angles of a triangle equal 180° , so:
a + b + c = 180° [11]
This is the right term of the desired binomial expression ( x + y + z ) − ( a + b + c )

From geometry, there are three supplementary relationships in the above illustration:
x = 180° − a [12]
y = 180° − b [13]
z = 180° − c [14]
The addition of equations [12], [13], and [14] will yield the left term of the desired
binomial expression ( x + y + z ) − ( a + b + c ) , so
x + y + z = 540° − ( a + b + c ) [15]

Substituting [11] and [15] into the original binomial expression yields:
( x + y + z ) − (a + b + c)
⎡⎣540° − ( a + b + c ) ⎤⎦ − ( a + b + c )
[540° − 180°] − 180°
180°