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-   -   Trisect an angle (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=122261)

  • Aug 23, 2007, 12:29 PM
    spacefire5458
    Trisect an angle
    How do I trisect an angle using only a straightedge and a compass?
    Thanks:confused:
  • Aug 23, 2007, 12:38 PM
    retsoksirhc
    Okay, lets say you've got angle abc.
    I *think* that if you put the point of the compass on the vertex (b)and draw with it from one point (a) to the other(c), then put the point on (a) and the pencil on the vertex (b) and draw out toward the circle you made before, and then the point on (c) and the pencil on the vertex (b) and draw out toward the circle again, the places where the circle meets *should* be where the line go that trisect the angle.

    This could very well be wrong, though. I don't remember too much from my days of geometry... that was about 7 years ago.
  • Aug 23, 2007, 12:41 PM
    spacefire5458
    That's how you bisect an angle not trisect it.
  • Aug 23, 2007, 12:53 PM
    Capuchin
    You can't trisect an arbitrary angle using just an unmarked straightedge and compasses. It's a famous result and has been proved to be impossible.
  • Aug 23, 2007, 01:03 PM
    retsoksirhc
    Dang. Well, I remembered doing Something like that to an angle with finding where circles intersected.

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