Alright, who took Geometry? I never did and I need help. If I have a three sided pyramid (three sided polygon base) and the sides are 50 units each, how tall does it need to be for the top intersecting angle to be 90 degrees? That is, I want a right angle point.
There just HAS to be a way to calculate this, right?
Thanks in advance.
@MookyTroubadour I could very easily be wrong (I have dyscalculia), but I think that's more of a trigonometry question. If nobody can tell you how to do it, that might at least give you some idea of where to look.
But now I want to know how to do it, too. I have to go ask questions.
@weirdfizz I never took Trig either. I didn’t have very good math teachers. It took me years to realize that they sucked. I finally found a college algebra teacher that clicked with me far too late.
@weirdfizz I think @northernbassist by way of Alfred got me the answer. It chagrins me that it looks like the answer is “half”. You wouldn’t believe the mental gymnastics I was attempting to get an answer. Half. Sheesh. I’m 3D printing now to confirm.
@MookyTroubadour @northernbassist You got an answer that works and were brave enough to ask for help...double win!
@weirdfizz @northernbassist so having tried a few prints, I can answer the question. The correct answer is 21. I have no idea what formula would have told me that, but here we are.
@MookyTroubadour @northernbassist One thing I know I remember correctly is that Pythagoras could explain this.
@MookyTroubadour My spouse - who is a human calculator - is working on this. I said your choices for the "walls" are going to be either equilateral or isosceles - determined by the height. So I think for the angle at the apex to be 90*, they have to be equilateral. Because I think isosceles would give a more narrow angle at the point.
They said, "That's not necessarily the case," and went back to looking things up.