In the diagram, there is an object with 6 triangular faces. On each corner there is a number (two are shown). The sum of the numbers on the corners of each triangle is the same. What is the sum of all 5 numbers?

17

Step-by-step explanation:

Let the two "middle" vertexes be x1 and x2, and let the "lower" vertex be y. We know that

Therefore x1=x2. We'll call that value just x.

But now we have to be careful, because

Simplifying we can get the value of x:

Now, substituting back in, we get

So, the sum of all vertexes is equal to

a4 - 3a2 - 1

step-by-step explanation:

step   1   :

equation at the end of step   1   :

  ((a4) -   3a2) -   1

step   2   :

trying to factor by splitting the middle term

2.1     factoring   a4-3a2-1  

the first term is,   a4   its coefficient is   1 .

the middle term is,   -3a2   its coefficient is   -3 .

the last term, "the constant", is   -1  

something that characterises a right triangle is the fact that we may use pythagoras' theorem to find any one of its sides given that we have the length of the other two sides. here, we have the length of the hypotenuse, √(87) yd, and one other side, √(23) yd, thus we can easily find the length of the remaining side using pythagoras' theorem as defined below:

c^2 = a^2 + b^2, where c is the length of the hypotenuse, and a and b are the lengths of the other two sides.

thus, given that c = √(87) and a = √(23), we may substitute these into the formula we defined above to get:

c^2 = a^2 + b^2

(√87)^2 = (√23)^2 + b^2 (substitute c = √87 and a = √23 into the equation)

87 = 23 + b^2 (evaluate (√87)^2 = 87 and (√23)^2 = 23 - remember that the square root of a number, squared will equal that very same number)

64 = b^2 (subtract 23 from both sides)

√64 = b (take the square root of both sides)

8 = b (evaluate √64 = 8)

therefor, the length of the unknown leg in the right triangle is 8 yd (first answer).