2008 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 4

Problem

In the figure, the outer equilateral triangle has area $16$, the inner equilateral triangle has area $1$, and the three trapezoids are congruent. What is the area of one of the trapezoids?

[asy] size((70)); draw((0,0)--(7.5,13)--(15,0)--(0,0)); draw((1.88,3.25)--(9.45,3.25)); draw((11.2,0)--(7.5,6.5)); draw((9.4,9.7)--(5.6,3.25)); [/asy]

$\textbf{(A)}\ 3 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 4 \qquad  \textbf{(C)}\ 5 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 6 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 7$


Video Solution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43JZqmiUeLw ~David

Solution

The area outside the small triangle but inside the large triangle is $16-1=15$. This is equally distributed between the three trapezoids. Each trapezoid has an area of $15/3 = \boxed{\textbf{(C)}\ 5}$.


Video Solution by OmegaLearn

https://youtu.be/abSgjn4Qs34?t=479

~ pi_is_3.14


See Also

2008 AMC 8 (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 3
Followed by
Problem 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
All AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

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