Question

The sides of a parallelogram are 24cm and 16cm. The distance between the 24cm sides is 8 cm. Find the distance between the 16cm sides

Answer 1

Answer:

12 cm.

Step-by-step explanation:

The distance between the opposite sides is a perpendicular line so we can form a right angled triangle by drawing a perpendicular line from one corner of the parallelogram  to the opposite 24 cm side.

So  one angle of the parallelogram will have a sine of 8/16 = 1/2 so this angle =  30 degrees.

In a similar way to the above we form a right angled triangle  from the same corner by drawing a perpendicular line to the opposite 16 cm side.

This has an angle of 30 degrees (  opposite angles in a parallelogram are congruent).

So sine 30 = x / 24

1/2 = x /24

x = 12 feet.

Another way to do this is by noting that the 2 triangles are similar (because  2 corresponding angles are equal).

So  8/ 16 = x/24

16x = 192

x = 12 feet.