2006 AIME A Problems/Problem 8

Problem

Hexagon $ABCDEF$ is divided into five rhombuses, $\mathcal{P, Q, R, S,}$ and $\mathcal{T,}$ as shown. Rhombuses $\mathcal{P, Q, R,}$ and $\mathcal{S}$ are congruent, and each has area $\sqrt{2006}.$ Let $K$ be the area of rhombus $\mathcal{T}$ . Given that $K$ is a positive integer, find the number of possible values for $K$ .

Solution

If two of our big equilateral triangles have the same color for their center triangle and the same multiset of colors for their outer three triangles, we can carry one onto the other by a combination of rotation and reflection. Thus, to make two triangles distinct, they must differ either in their center triangle or in the collection of colors which make up their outer three triangles.

There are 6 possible colors for the center triangle.

There are ${6\choose3} = 20$ possible choices for the three outer triangles, if all three have different colors.
There are $6\cdot 5 = 30$ (or $2 {6\choose2}$ ) possible choices for the three outer triangles, if two are one color and the third is a different color.
There are ${6\choose1} = 6$ possible choices for the three outer triangles, if all three are the same color.

Thus, in total we have $6\cdot(20 + 30 + 6) = 336$ total possibilities.

2006 AIME II (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 7	Followed by Problem 9
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15
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2006 AIME A Problems/Problem 8

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