A triangle has corners at (2 , 6 )(2,6), (4 ,7 )(4,7), and (1 ,5 )(1,5). What is the radius of the triangle's inscribed circle?

1 Answer
May 10, 2017

Simple. Find the centroid of the triangle and Measure the perpendicular distance from this point to any of the sides.

Explanation:

The centroid of the triangle can be found by the centroid formula:

x, y x,y= (x_1+x_2+x_3)/3 , (y_1+y_2+y_3)/3x1+x2+x33,y1+y2+y33

On plugging values, we get:

x=7/3x=73

y=6y=6

equation of any one line can be found using the formula:

yy - y_1y1 = m(xx - x_1x1)

Where mm=(y_2y2 - y_1y1)/(x_2x2 - x_1x1)

On plugging in values, we get:

y - 6 = (x - 2)/2y6=x22

2y - 12 = x - 22y12=x2

x - 2y - 10 = 0x2y10=0

The formula for perpendicular distance from a point to a line is:

d=|Ax + By + C|/sqrt(A^2 + B^2d=|Ax+By+C|A2+B2

On plugging values, we get:

d = |7/3 - 10 - 10|/sqrt5d=7310105

d = 7.9 cmd=7.9cm

The radius of the circle is 7.9 cm7.9cm