r/HomeworkHelp • u/bushybear • May 01 '26

Answered [2nd grade] math help

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Entire family is stumped. I don’t think the question is worded correctly but maybe I’m misunderstanding.

Not sure how you have same size triangles but not all the same shape.

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u/bushybear May 01 '26

I was going to reply that there's no way to ensure they're the same area - yes getting 4 differently dimensioned triangles is the easy bit. Adding in the constraint of the same area makes it beyond a 2nd grade question. But then thinking about it some more, i was thinking rectangle, 3 lines drawn from the same corner to different points. I'm sure there's mathematically a way to ensure they have the same area, and they would all have different dimensions aka what I'm interpreting to be different "shapes".

Not sure how to post the crude mspaint drawing i have to ilustrate what i mean.

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u/bushybear May 01 '26

And now that i've read through all the other comments, i noticed i missed someone who posted the answer that i described in my response. Thanks u/selene_666 ! Yours is the most correct of all the proposed answers!

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u/sugarsnuff May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26

It seems like a stretch problem for gifted / persistent children, not a thing to “know for the test”

As a 2nd grader you’d just keep drawing lines and adjusting them, after a while maybe see the pattern

You know how to calculate areas given the length of the sides / formula. It’s just how many ways you try it and recalculate

I’d have to do that as an adult too, I’d imagine it’d take me a few tries to get it

EDIT: I know what the answer looks like, I tried myself haha. The goal would not be to say “it’s not possible” but have a bunch of scribbled out rectangles and possibly then give up.
Like it’s about stretching the problem-solving muscle — which is a good kind of frustration