2018 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 24
Problem
Let be a regular hexagon with side length
. Denote by
,
, and
the midpoints of sides
,
, and
, respectively. What is the area of the convex hexagon whose interior is the intersection of the interiors of
and
?
Solution 1
The desired area (hexagon ) consists of an equilateral triangle (
) and three right triangles (
,
, and
).
Notice that (not shown) and
are parallel.
divides transversals
and
into a
ratio. Thus, it must also divide transversal
and transversal
into a
ratio. By symmetry, the same applies for
and
as well as
and
In , we see that
and
. Our desired area becomes
Solution 2
Now, if we look at the figure, we can see that the complement of the hexagon we are trying to find is composed of 3 isosceles trapezoids (,
, and
), and 3 right triangles, with one right angle on each of
,
, and
.
Finding the trapezoid's area, we know that one base of each trapezoid is just the side length of the hexagon, which is 1, and the other base is 3/2 (It is halfway in between the side and the longest diagonal, which has length 2) with a height of
(by using the Pythagorean theorem and the fact that it is an isosceles trapezoid) to give each trapezoid having an area of
for a total area of
(Alternatively, we could have calculated the area of hexagon
and subtracted the area of
, which, as we showed before, had a side length of 3/2).
Now, we need to find the area of each of the small triangles, which, if we look at the triangle that has a vertex on X, is similar to the triangle with a base of
Using similar triangles we calculate the base to be 1/4 and the height to be
giving us an area of
per triangle, and a total area of
. Adding the two areas together, we get
. Finding the total area, we get
. Taking the complement, we get
Solution 3 (Trig)
Notice, the area of the convex hexagon formed through the intersection of the 2 triangles can be found by finding the area of the triangle formed by the midpoints of the sides and subtracting the smaller triangles that are formed by the region inside this triangle but outside the other triangle. First, let's find the area of the area of the triangle formed by the midpoint of the sides. Notice, this is an equilateral triangle, thus all we need is to find the length of its side.
To do this, we look at the isosceles trapezoid outside this triangle but inside the outer hexagon. Since the interior angle of a regular hexagon is and the trapezoid is isosceles, we know that the angle opposite is
, and thus the side length of this triangle is
. So the area of this triangle is
Now let's find the area of the smaller triangles. Notice, triangle
cuts off smaller isosceles triangles from the outer hexagon. The base of these isosceles triangles is perpendicular to the base of the isosceles trapezoid mentioned before, thus we can use trigonometric ratios to find the base and height of these smaller triangles, which are all congruent due to the rotational symmetry of a regular hexagon. The area is then
and the sum of the areas is
Therefore, the area of the convex hexagon is
Solution 4
Dividing into two right triangles congruent to
, we see that
. Because
, we have
. From here, you should be able to tell that the answer will have a factor of
, and
is the only answer that has a factor of
. However, if you want to actually calculate the area, you would calculate
to be
, so
.
See Also
2018 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 23 |
Followed by Problem 25 | |
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 |
2018 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | |
Preceded by Problem 19 |
Followed by Problem 21 |
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 |
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