2015 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 19

A triangle with vertices as $A=(1,3)$ , $B=(5,1)$ , and $C=(4,4)$ is plotted on a $6\times5$ grid. What fraction of the grid is covered by the triangle?

$\textbf{(A) }\frac{1}{6} \qquad \textbf{(B) }\frac{1}{5} \qquad \textbf{(C) }\frac{1}{4} \qquad \textbf{(D) }\frac{1}{3} \qquad \textbf{(E) }\frac{1}{2}$

$[asy] draw((1,0)--(1,5),linewidth(.5)); draw((2,0)--(2,5),linewidth(.5)); draw((3,0)--(3,5),linewidth(.5)); draw((4,0)--(4,5),linewidth(.5)); draw((5,0)--(5,5),linewidth(.5)); draw((6,0)--(6,5),linewidth(.5)); draw((0,1)--(6,1),linewidth(.5)); draw((0,2)--(6,2),linewidth(.5)); draw((0,3)--(6,3),linewidth(.5)); draw((0,4)--(6,4),linewidth(.5)); draw((0,5)--(6,5),linewidth(.5)); draw((0,0)--(0,6),EndArrow); draw((0,0)--(7,0),EndArrow); draw((1,3)--(4,4)--(5,1)--cycle); label("$y$",(0,6),W); label("$x$",(7,0),S); label("$A$",(1,3),dir(210)); label("$B$",(5,1),SE); label("$C$",(4,4),dir(100)); [/asy]$

Solution

The area of $\triangle ABC$ is equal to half the product of its base and height. By the Pythagorean Theorem, we find its height is $\sqrt{1^2+2^2}=\sqrt{5}$ , and its base is $\sqrt{2^2+4^2}=\sqrt{20}$ . We multiply these and divide by 2 to find the of the triangle is $\frac{\sqrt{5 \cdot 20}}2=\frac{\sqrt{100}}2=\frac{10}2=5$ . Since the grid has an area of $30$ , the fraction of the grid covered by the triangle is $\frac 5{30}=\boxed{\textbf{(A) }\frac{1}{6}}$ .

2015 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 18	Followed by Problem 20
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2015 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 19

Solution

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