2020 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 25

Problem

Rectangles $R_1$ and $R_2,$ and squares $S_1,\,S_2,\,$ and $S_3,$ shown below, combine to form a rectangle that is 3322 units wide and 2020 units high. What is the side length of $S_2$ in units?

$[asy] draw((0,0)--(5,0)--(5,3)--(0,3)--(0,0)); draw((3,0)--(3,1)--(0,1)); draw((3,1)--(3,2)--(5,2)); draw((3,2)--(2,2)--(2,1)--(2,3)); label("$R_1$",(3/2,1/2)); label("$S_3$",(4,1)); label("$S_2$",(5/2,3/2)); label("$S_1$",(1,2)); label("$R_2$",(7/2,5/2)); [/asy]$

$\textbf{(A) }651 \qquad \textbf{(B) }655 \qquad \textbf{(C) }656 \qquad \textbf{(D) }662 \qquad \textbf{(E) }666$

Solution 1

Let the side length of each square $S_k$ be $s_k$ . Then, from the diagram, we can line up the top horizontal lengths of $S_1$ , $S_2$ , and $S_3$ to cover the top side of the large rectangle, so $s_{1}+s_{2}+s_{3}=3322$ . Similarly, the short side of $R_2$ will be $s_1-s_2$ , and lining this up with the left side of $S_3$ to cover the vertical side of the large rectangle gives $s_{1}-s_{2}+s_{3}=2020$ . We subtract the second equation from the first to obtain $2s_{2}=1302$ , and thus $s_{2}=\boxed{\textbf{(A) }651}$ .

Solution 2

Assuming that the problem is well-posed, it should be true in the particular case where $S_1 \cong S_3$ and $R_1 \cong R_2$ . Let the sum of the side lengths of $S_1$ and $S_2$ be $x$ , and let the length of rectangle $R_2$ be $y$ . We then have the system $\begin{dcases}x+y =3322 \\x-y=2020\end{dcases}$ which we solve to determine $y=\boxed{\textbf{(A) }651}$ .

Solution 3 (fast)

Since, for each pair of rectangles, the side lengths have a sum of $3322$ or $2020$ and a difference of $S_2$ , the answer must be $\dfrac{3322 - 2020}{2} = \dfrac{1302}{2} = \boxed{\textbf{(A) }651}$ .

Video Solutions

https://youtu.be/JAZXFv1fFGo

2020 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
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