Which statement about the diagonals of a rectangle is true?

• A. They are perpendicular
• B. They are equal in length and bisect each other
• C. They are equal in length but do not bisect
• D. They bisect each other but are not equal

Answer: (B)

Diagonals in a rectangle are equal in length and bisect each other. A rectangle is a parallelogram, so its diagonals cross at their midpoints, meaning each diagonal is split into two equal halves. If you imagine the rectangle with width w and height h, each diagonal spans a horizontal distance w and a vertical distance h, giving length sqrt(w^2 + h^2) for both diagonals. Since they use the same w and h, both diagonals have identical length. They aren’t generally perpendicular (that only happens if the rectangle is a square). So the diagonals are equal in length and bisect each other.