For this assignment you will need to go around your house and make some right triangles using a roll of tape -- masking tape is best because it shows up on camera when you submit a photo, and also it doesn't ruin the surface it is stuck on to.
Materials:
Camera (phone)
Masking Tape or Scotch Tape (DEFINITELY NOT Duct Tape)
Measuring device (construction measuring tape, ruler, sewing measuring tape, laser measuring device)
Sharpie (for writing on the tape only, not siblings nor walls nor furniture!)
Procedure:
Stick a piece of tape somewhere in your house. It can be all on one surface, or it can span through the air in a diagonal. This is a Segment, a leg of your right triangle. Then choose one end of it to be your right angle. Stick another piece of tape from this end out in a 90 degree-ish angle somewhere, this is your second leg. Mark the three corners of your triangle:
- One at the intersection between the two segments
- One at each end of the legs
The Hypotenuse is now not taped, but marked at the far end of each leg. No need to run tape for it since the points are already there, but you can.
Now measure your leg distances. Estimate the decimal to hundreths, so if you are at 33 and 3/4 inches, which is 33.75, you can use the .75 . If you find yourself at 33 and 7/16 on the tape measure, you can see with a quick calculator that 5/16 is .3125, so use .31 for your calculation.
Then see if you have a right triangle by squaring the leg lengths and adding them together and comparing the square of your hypotenuse calculation with the square of your hypotenuse measurement. If your measurement is not long enough, move your tape a little away from the other leg. If your measurement is greater than your calculation, then move the tape a little closer. How much you need to move it will take some experimenting.
Do this with 3 triangles, writing every piece of data down on a fresh journal page, and take a photo of each triangle. Submit 4 photos for this assignment: 1 journal page and 3 tape triangles. Include a pet inside of or next to the triangle for super bonus points. I love pets!
Short summary:
Tape out a right triangle in your house and mark dots with a sharpie.
Measure and calculate if this is a really right triangle.
Adjust the tape until you have a perfect right triangle.
Write it all down.
Take a pic!
Do this three times.