Centroid of an isoceles triangle

  • #1
Zack K
166
6

Homework Statement


Where is the center of mass of an isoceles triangle?

Homework Equations


xcm=∫xdV/V (where V is the volume of the triangle)

The Attempt at a Solution


The representation of the sides is what I'm confused with. Flipping the triangle to it's side is what's recommended to be able to express it better. Taking a small chunk and labeling it's side, you can express the length of this chunk to be 2y(replacing y with b(the base)). My issue is what should I label the shorter side as? Should I label it as x, another variable, or in terms of y?
 
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  • #2
You are not describing very well your difficulty with this. An isosceles triangle needs two numbers to be defined. Common choices are the base ##b## and the the two equal sides ##a## or the base ##b## and the two equal angles ##\theta##, or the base ##b## and the height ##h##. You can choose any two symbols to label these. Personally, I would choose the base and the height. Of course, to find the CM you need to integrate over variables so, to avoid confusion, it is a good idea to reserve ##x## and ##y## as the names of the integration variables. So pick a scheme, and then explain what your difficulty is. Providing a drawing would be a nice touch.
 
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