Middle Square Gone Missing!

Geometry Level 1

Consider a right-angled isosceles triangle with a square inscribed in the corner.

Which area is larger, the green area or the pink area?

Green Area Pink Area Equal Area

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4 solutions

Relevant wiki: Length and Area

Let's call the side of the square A A and the side of the big triangle L L .
The area of the square is A 2 A^2 .
Both small triangles have sides A A and L A L-A ,
therefore they have the same areas.

The pink area is ( L A ) ( A ) 2 2 = A L A 2 \dfrac{(L-A)(A)}2 \cdot 2 = AL-A^2 .

Now, the area of the big triangle is L 2 2 = ( A L A 2 ) + A 2 = A L \dfrac{L^2}2 = (AL-A^2)+A^2 = AL . And so, 2 A = L 2A = L .
Replacing we get that the pink area is 2 A 2 A 2 = A 2 2A^2 -A^2 = A^2 , therefore both areas are equal.

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Feb 21, 2021

The answer is the same because if we divide the green square into 2 right triangles by the diagonals, then we get 4 congruent right triangles. So the answer is the same.

Shash Manny
Sep 21, 2016

It's an easy problem. First we know that each right angle side of the triangle is equal to each side of the square= S. Then we know that area of 1triangle = 1/2bh in this case = 1/2xSxS=1/2 s² . The pink area has two triangles hence its area is 2x1/2*S²= S² Since area of square= AxA we know this is equal to SxS = S²= area of the two triangles. Hence the areas are equal

Ayush G Rai
Sep 15, 2016

The three vertices of the square are the mid-points of the respective sides of triangle.The two pink triangles are congruent.Now imagine that the sides of the square as a mirror[the sides inside the triangle].The reflection of the two pink areas on the square will overlap and form the same square.Hence the pink area is equal to the green area.

We can also conclude it area by its sides... each sides has midpoints..

A Former Brilliant Member - 4 years, 8 months ago

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