# Help me understand this triangle problem

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-this-triangle-problem/744593
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 29, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-this-triangle-problem/744593 "2016-01-29T17:27:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-this-triangle-problem/744593/21 "2016-02-01T15:57:13Z")

</div>

I would start with the square and then just observe that any uniform vertical or horizontal scaling will leave all ratios of areas unchanged, and thus the answer for the square is valid for any rectangle.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-this-triangle-problem/744593/22 "2016-02-02T01:54:07Z")

</div>

Urgh! I didn’t even notice that the red area plus the blue area was a triangle itself. :smack:

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-this-triangle-problem/744593.md?page=1)