Triangle Midsegment Action!

Use this applet to help you complete this investigation.

1) Interact with this applet for a few minutes.  Be sure to change the locations of the triangle’s vertices each time before re-sliding the slider.   2) The orange segment that first appeared is said to be a midsegment of a triangle. Without looking up the definition on another site in your internet browser, complete the following sentence definition based solely upon your observations:   Definition: A midsegment of a triangle is… 3) What 2 conclusions can you informally conclude about the midsegment of any triangle?   The midsegment of any triangle is a) _________________ to the side of the triangle it doesn’t touch b) _________________ the length of the side of the triangle it doesn’t touch.   4) How many midsegments does any triangle have?  Why is this?   5) If the length of a midsegment of a triangle is 40 cm, what is the length of the side of the triangle it doesn't touch? 6) If the length of one side of a triangle is 100 feet, what is the length of the midsegment that does not touch that side? BONUS: 7) Use a coordinate geometry setup (as is shown below) to prove the two claims (you made in step 3) true.  Here’s a setup to help you get started: