A triangular piece of land has one side measuring 2ft. The land is to be divided into 2 equal areas by a dividing line parallel to the given side. What is the length of the dividing line?
so far this is what i know and it's in one of my quizzes. Can any of you help me answer this please?
Draw the original triangle $ABC$, and let $BC=2$. Draw a dividing line $PQ$ parallel to $BC$. We want $\triangle APQ$ to have half the area of $\triangle ABC$. Note that $\triangle ABC$ and $\triangle APQ$ are similar.
The area of $\triangle APQ$ is $\left(\frac{PQ}{BC}\right)^2$ times the area of $\triangle ABC$. So we want $$\left(\frac{PQ}{BC}\right)^2=\frac{1}{2}.$$ But $BC=2$. Now we can solve for $PQ$. You should get $PQ=\sqrt{2}$.