1988 AJHSME Problems/Problem 17

Problem

The shaded region formed by the two intersecting perpendicular rectangles, in square units, is

$[asy] fill((0,0)--(6,0)--(6,-3.5)--(9,-3.5)--(9,0)--(10,0)--(10,2)--(9,2)--(9,4.5)--(6,4.5)--(6,2)--(0,2)--cycle,black); label("2",(0,.9),W); label("3",(7.3,4.5),N); draw((0,-3.3)--(0,-5.3),linewidth(1)); draw((0,-4.3)--(3.7,-4.3),linewidth(1)); label("10",(4.7,-3.7),S); draw((5.7,-4.3)--(10,-4.3),linewidth(1)); draw((10,-3.3)--(10,-5.3),linewidth(1)); draw((11,4.5)--(13,4.5),linewidth(1)); draw((12,4.5)--(12,2),linewidth(1)); label("8",(11.3,1),E); draw((12,0)--(12,-3.5),linewidth(1)); draw((11,-3.5)--(13,-3.5),linewidth(1)); [/asy]$

$\text{(A)}\ 23 \qquad \text{(B)}\ 38 \qquad \text{(C)}\ 44 \qquad \text{(D)}\ 46 \qquad \text{(E)}\ \text{unable to be determined from the information given}$

Solution

Looking at the diagram, the shaded region is the union of two rectangles, with a small rectangle as overlap. If we just add the areas of the two rectangles, then we'll overcount the small rectangle, so we must subtract that area to get the desired area.

The areas of the two larger rectangles are $2\cdot 10=20$ and $3\cdot 8=24$ , and the area of the small rectangle is $2\cdot 3=6$ . The desired area is thus $20+24-6=38 \rightarrow \boxed{\text{B}}$ .

1988 AJHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 16	Followed by Problem 18
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1988 AJHSME Problems/Problem 17

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