Difference between revisions of "2009 UNCO Math Contest II Problems/Problem 9"

m (Solution 2)
m (Solution 2)
Line 33: Line 33:
 
draw(A--F);
 
draw(A--F);
 
draw(C--E);
 
draw(C--E);
 +
 +
</asy>
 +
JOIN AC
 +
 +
<asy>
 +
unitsize(135);
 +
defaultpen(linewidth(.8pt)+fontsize(10pt));
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pair A, B, C, D, E, F;
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A=(0, 0); B=(1, 0); C=(1, -1); D=(0,-1); E=(0,-1/3); F=(1,-2/3);
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draw(A--B--C--D--cycle);
 +
label("$A$",A,N); label("$B$",B,N); label("$C$",C,E); label("$D$",D,S); label("$E$",E,W); label("$F$",F,SE);
 +
draw(A--F);
 +
draw(C--E);
 +
draw(A--C);
  
 
</asy>
 
</asy>

Revision as of 07:07, 28 September 2023

Problem

A square is divided into three pieces of equal area by two parallel lines as shown. If the distance between the two parallel lines is $8$ what is the area of the square?

[asy]  draw((0,0)--(1,0)--(1,1)--(0,1)--cycle,black); draw((1,0)--(0,2/3),black); draw((1,1/3)--(0,1),black);  [/asy]

Solution

This problem needs a solution. If you have a solution for it, please help us out by adding it. Let x be the length of a side. Then the square has area $x^2$ and each portion has area $x^2 \times\frac{1}{3}$ If x is the base of one of the triangles, then the height will be $\frac{2x}{3}$. By the pythaogrean theorem, longer side of the parallelogram has length $\sqrt(x^2+(\frac{2x}{3})^2)$ Thus sqrt(13)*x/3*8 = x^2/3. Solving this gives x = 8*sqrt(13). Thus, the area of the square is 64*13 = 832.

Solution 2

[asy] unitsize(135); defaultpen(linewidth(.8pt)+fontsize(10pt)); pair A, B, C, D, E, F; A=(0, 0); B=(1, 0); C=(1, -1); D=(0,-1); E=(0,-1/3); F=(1,-2/3); draw(A--B--C--D--cycle); label("$A$",A,N); label("$B$",B,N); label("$C$",C,E); label("$D$",D,S); label("$E$",E,W); label("$F$",F,SE); draw(A--F); draw(C--E);  [/asy] JOIN AC

[asy] unitsize(135); defaultpen(linewidth(.8pt)+fontsize(10pt)); pair A, B, C, D, E, F; A=(0, 0); B=(1, 0); C=(1, -1); D=(0,-1); E=(0,-1/3); F=(1,-2/3); draw(A--B--C--D--cycle); label("$A$",A,N); label("$B$",B,N); label("$C$",C,E); label("$D$",D,S); label("$E$",E,W); label("$F$",F,SE); draw(A--F); draw(C--E); draw(A--C);  [/asy]

See also

2009 UNCO Math Contest II (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 8
Followed by
Problem 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
All UNCO Math Contest Problems and Solutions