2024 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 3

The following problem is from both the 2024 AMC 12A #3 and 2024 AMC 10A #4, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

A square and an isosceles triangle are joined along an edge to form a pentagon $10$ inches tall and $22$ inches wide, as shown below. What is the perimeter of the pentagon, in inches?

[asy] import graph; size(7cm); real labelscalefactor = 0.5; /* changes label-to-point distance */ pen dps = linewidth(0.7) + fontsize(10); defaultpen(dps); /* default pen style */ pen dotstyle = black; /* point style */ pen GGG = grey; draw((10, 0)--(0, 0)--(0, 10)--(10, 10)); draw((10, 0)--(10, 10), dashed); draw((10, 0)--(22, 5)--(10, 10)); draw((-1.5, 0)--(-1.5, 10), arrow = ArcArrow(SimpleHead), GGG); draw((-1.5, 10)--(-1.5, 0), arrow = ArcArrow(SimpleHead), GGG); draw((0, 11.5)--(22, 11.5), arrow = ArcArrow(SimpleHead), GGG); draw((22, 11.5)--(0, 11.5), arrow = ArcArrow(SimpleHead), GGG); label("$10$ in.", (-3.5, 5), GGG); label("$22$ in.", (11, 12.75), GGG); dot((0, 0)); dot((0, 10)); dot((10, 10)); dot((10, 0)); dot((22, 5)); [/asy]

$\textbf{(A)}~54\qquad \textbf{(B)}~56 \qquad \textbf{(C)}~62 \qquad \textbf{(D)}~64 \qquad \textbf{(E)}~66$

Solution

Drop an altitude from the vertex of the isosceles triangle to the midpoint of the base, thereby creating two right triangles whose legs are $\tfrac{10}{2} = 5$ and $22 - 10 = 12$. It follows that the two congruent sides have length $13$, hence, the perimeter of the pentagon is $3 \cdot 10 + 2 \cdot 13 = 30 + 26 = \boxed{\textbf{(B)}~56}$.

See also

2024 AMC 12A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 2
Followed by
Problem 4
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 AMC 12 Problems and Solutions
2024 AMC 10A (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 AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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