The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 10 cm. What is the perimeter, in centimeters, of the triangle?

(1) The area of the triangle is 25 square centimeters.
(2) The 2 legs of the triangle are of equal length.

Bunuel, if we factored out the equation in (A) and ended up with two different values for X, does that make (A) insufficient? I think it would. Would the GMAT be cruel enough to pull this trick on us? Because if we have to solve it all the way to determine the value of x+y then it's really a PS problem rather than a DS problem.

I am asking this because I was wondering whether we really needed to solve it for A. If we end up with an non linear equation in a similar DS statement, do we really have to solve it? Aren't we supposed to just determine if we have sufficient data to solve the problem.

stmt 1 we know that bh=50 and x^2 + y^2 = 100. Also, we need to solve for x+y+100. If we were to make (x+y)^2 and then solve out from there we can manipulate it so we can create an equation to what we know so far.
_________________

DETERMINED TO BREAK 700!!!

The best approach to tackle statement questions in DS is as follows:

Step 1: Convert all the alphabetical statements in algebraic statements
Step 2: Reduce the number of variable to minimum
Step 3: Check how many variables are left. You may probably need that many statements to solve the questions but you might need lesser number of statements to answer the question.

Caution: Don't waste your time in solving the question. You have to analyse the data sufficiency and not solve the question.

Lets see how this approach works for this question:

Step 1: A right triangle is given with hypotenuses equal 10. A triangle has three side. Let the other two sides be a and b

We know in a right triangle a^2 + b^2 =100

and we have to determine perimeter = a + b + 10

Step 2: We introduced 2 variables a and b above. Can we reduce the constraint equation to one variable. Yes, we can.

p = a + \sqrt{100-a^2} + 10

Thus, we are left with one variable.

Step 3: Let us look at the statements and see if we can decipher this one variable

1) The area of the triangle is 25 square centimeters.
Area of a right triangle is 1/2*a*b = 25
But we know the relationship between a and b as well. Therefore, we can calculate a and hence perimeter. Thus, this is a sufficient condition.\

2) The 2 legs of the triangle are of equal length.

This means a= b

Again, we can calculate a here and thus can find out the perimeter. Again sufficient.

Thus, the correct answer is D.

Note: We didn't solve for a or p nor did we enter any algebra here

It should come with practice...

We know the values of xy and x^2+y^2, while need to get the value of x+y. Now, if you add twice xy to x^2+y^2 you get the square of x+y, hence squaring x+y is quite natural thing to do.

Similar questions to practice:
if-p-is-the-perimeter-of-rectangle-q-what-is-the-value-of-p-135832.html
if-the-diagonal-of-rectangle-z-is-d-and-the-perimeter-of-104205.html
what-is-the-area-of-rectangular-region-r-166186.html
what-is-the-perimeter-of-rectangle-r-96381.html

Hope this helps.
_________________

New to the Math Forum?
Please read this: Ultimate GMAT Quantitative Megathread | All You Need for Quant | PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW: 12 Rules for Posting!!!

Resources:
GMAT Math Book | Triangles | Polygons | Coordinate Geometry | Factorials | Circles | Number Theory | Remainders; 8. Overlapping Sets | PDF of Math Book; 10. Remainders | GMAT Prep Software Analysis | SEVEN SAMURAI OF 2012 (BEST DISCUSSIONS) | Tricky questions from previous years.

Collection of Questions:
PS: 1. Tough and Tricky questions; 2. Hard questions; 3. Hard questions part 2; 4. Standard deviation; 5. Tough Problem Solving Questions With Solutions; 6. Probability and Combinations Questions With Solutions; 7 Tough and tricky exponents and roots questions; 8 12 Easy Pieces (or not?); 9 Bakers' Dozen; 10 Algebra set. ,11 Mixed Questions, 12 Fresh Meat

DS: 1. DS tough questions; 2. DS tough questions part 2; 3. DS tough questions part 3; 4. DS Standard deviation; 5. Inequalities; 6. 700+ GMAT Data Sufficiency Questions With Explanations; 7 Tough and tricky exponents and roots questions; 8 The Discreet Charm of the DS; 9 Devil's Dozen!!!; 10 Number Properties set., 11 New DS set.


What are GMAT Club Tests?
Extra-hard Quant Tests with Brilliant Analytics

i applied like this..

1:1:\sqrt{2} for option 1 .. since hypo is 10 then

other 2 are 5\sqrt{2}

(5\sqrt{2} *5\sqrt{2}) /2 = 25.. suff.

1:\sqrt{3}:2 wont suffice here ...

option b . same logic

1:1:\sqrt{2}

Hence D.

x and y are the two unknown sides...

we can determine from the stem that x^2 + y^2 = 10^2

1.) we know triangle area = 1/2(base)(height) so 1/2(x)(y)=25. from this we can determine that (x)(y) = 50. x= 50/y. using equation above we have 2 equations 2 unknowns. sufficient.

2.) x^2 + x^2 = 10^2. sufficient.

How: 1) is sufficient..
But x and y are coming out to be imaginary, so such sides of a right triangle don't exist.....so not point of calculating perimeter from (1)

thought we can calculate ...x+y....because imaginary parts cancelled out in addition...but if x and y are not real how can we think of perimeter...

We can solve it using topic about similar triangles
1)Area= (10*Height)/2 = 25 --> Height=5, so if this 3 triangles are similar, then x/5=5/10-x, x^2-10x+25=0 --> x=5
The hypotenuses of small traingles => 1st: x^2+25, 2nd:125-20x+x^2..... So we can calculate Perimiter after pluging X=5 in the stated equations (no need to calculate) SUFFICIENT

2) 2 Legs are equal => pythagoras theorem: x^2+x^2=100, x=5*sqrt 2, so again it's enougj to calculate the perimeter (10+10*sqrt 2)

_________________

When you’re up, your friends know who you are. When you’re down, you know who your friends are.

Share some Kudos, if my posts help you. Thank you !

800Score ONLY QUANT CAT1 51, CAT2 50, CAT3 50
GMAT PREP 670
MGMAT CAT 630
KAPLAN CAT 660

Let me try to answer this question.

The answer to your question (in general) is as follows:

1. For ANY triangle, perimeter = P = a+b+c ---> so given 2 of the 3 sides and P, you can definitely calculate the 3rd side. For triangles that are not right angled or equilateral or isosceles, you would 1 angle or some sort of a relation between the sides and the area or a combination of these to sufficiently answer DS questions for these triangles.

i) For right triangles you also have the hypotenuse ^2 = base^2 + perpendicular ^2 as another equation. Thus for a right angled triangle, you have 2 equations.

ii) Similarly for isosceles and equilateral triangles (by drawing an a right angle, as shown in picture attached), you divide these 2 triangles into 2 same or congruent right angled triangles. So, for these 2 triangles as well you have 2 equations as mentioned above.

FYI, also remember that for right angled triangles and isosceles/equilateral triangles, you can calculate the 3rd side or the perimeter if the area is given as shown in the question discussed in this thread (by applying the relation, \((a+b)^2 = a^2+b^2+2ab\) and noticing that 0.5*ab represents the area of the triangle).

2. For rectangles and squares, the diagonals of these 2 shapes, divide these rectangles and squares into 2 congruent or same right angled triangles. The points mentioned above in 1) thus also apply these shapes as well.

Hope this answers your question. Let me know if there are any other questions.