Difference between revisions of "2016 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 17"

(Solution)
m (Solution 2)
Line 18: Line 18:
  
 
==Solution 2==
 
==Solution 2==
Let the center of the square ABCD be (0, 0). Coordinate bash!
+
The Original Solution 2 is bs. Someone find an alternate solution for this problem.
  
 
==See Also==
 
==See Also==
 
{{AMC12 box|year=2016|ab=A|num-b=16|num-a=18}}
 
{{AMC12 box|year=2016|ab=A|num-b=16|num-a=18}}
 
{{MAA Notice}}
 
{{MAA Notice}}

Revision as of 18:19, 19 January 2019

Problem 17

Let $ABCD$ be a square. Let $E, F, G$ and $H$ be the centers, respectively, of equilateral triangles with bases $\overline{AB}, \overline{BC}, \overline{CD},$ and $\overline{DA},$ each exterior to the square. What is the ratio of the area of square $EFGH$ to the area of square $ABCD$?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 1\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \frac{2+\sqrt{3}}{3} \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ \sqrt{2} \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \frac{\sqrt{2}+\sqrt{3}}{2} \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \sqrt{3}$

Solution

The center of an equilateral triangle is its centroid, where the three medians meet.

The distance along the median from the centroid to the base is one third the length of the median.

Let the side length of the square be $1$. The height of $\triangle E$ is $\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2},$ so the distance from $E$ to the midpoint of $\overline{AB}$ is $\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \cdot \frac{1}{3} = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{6}$

$EG = 2 \cdot \frac{\sqrt{3}}{6}$ (from above) $+ 1$ (side length of the square).

Since $EG$ is the diagonal of square $EFGH$, $\frac{[EFGH]}{ABCD} = \frac{\frac{EG^2}{2}}{1^2} = \boxed{\textbf{(B) }\frac{2 + \sqrt{3}}{3}}$

Solution 2

The Original Solution 2 is bs. Someone find an alternate solution for this problem.

See Also

2016 AMC 12A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 16
Followed by
Problem 18
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

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions. AMC logo.png