A Shifting Shape

Geometry Level 5

Three of the four sides of a certain quadrilateral have lengths of 3, 4, and 5, and two of its four angles measure 90°. Let A be the sum of all possible distinct areas this quadrilateral could have. What is A \lfloor A \rfloor ?

Details and assumptions

  • If more than one such quadrilateral has the same area, only count that area once.
  • The fourth side can have any positive length, and the other two angles can have any measure.
  • If the fourth side has length 0, then that is not a quadrilateral.

Photo credit: http://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/publicityphotos/odo/odo4.jpg


The answer is 173.

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1 solution

Matt Enlow
Jun 10, 2014

The best way to explain my solution is with a drawing. Below, I mapped out all of the possible arrangements of sides and right angles. It should go without saying, but these diagrams are NOT to scale! They are purely for "bookkeeping" purposes.

18 cases 18 cases

Then, in each case, I set out to find the area of the quadrilateral. In some cases, no such quadrilateral could be constructed, and in one case, multiple quadrilaterals could. Below are the results of my calculations (the details of which are left to the reader).

areas found areas found

A remark about the color-coding in the image:

  • If I needed to find the length of the fourth side, it's written in purple.
  • I wrote the area of each quadrilateral inside itself, in green.
  • The cases scribbled out in red can not form quadrilaterals.
  • The cases scribbled out in gray are duplicate areas.

Also, a note about the quadrilateral with the "30" inside it: In this case, two quadrilaterals were possible. These quadrilaterals have areas of 3 2 ( 10 + 7 ) \frac{3}{2}(10+\sqrt{7}) and 3 2 ( 10 7 ) \frac{3}{2}(10-\sqrt{7}) , the sum of which is 30. (There's a nice picture you could draw to show why this is the case, obviating the need to calculate each individual area.)

So therefore

A = 16 + 27 2 + 35 2 + 8 3 + 9 2 + 7 6 + 18 + 30 + ( 15 2 + 6 2 ) + ( 10 + 6 2 ) , A=16+\frac{27}{2}+\frac{35}{2}+8\sqrt{3}+9\sqrt{2}+7\sqrt{6}+18+30+(\frac{15}{2}+6\sqrt{2})+(10+6\sqrt{2}),

which simplifies to

225 2 + 21 2 + 8 3 + 7 6 173.2 , \frac{225}{2}+21\sqrt{2}+8\sqrt{3}+7\sqrt{6}\approx 173.2,

so A = 173 \lfloor A \rfloor = \boxed{173} .

Here are more diagrams drawn up by students working on this problem!

photo photo

Image credit: Dan Anderson on Twitter

Calvin Lin Staff - 7 years ago

Oops I thought the quadrilaterals had to be cyclic when I saw "2 right angles".

Kaan Dokmeci - 7 years ago

thank you for posting such a nice problem sir :)..... but could you please explain how this is related to shape shifting ,.... i couldn't really co-relate the title to the problem ...... thanks :)

Abhinav Raichur - 6 years, 12 months ago

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I admit that it's a loose association. I described the shape, but it can come in many different "forms." That's really it. (And yes, it has absolutely nothing to do with Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. But I wanted an attention-getting image that did not give anything away about the problem. Sorry if you felt misled!)

Matt Enlow - 6 years, 12 months ago

Great problem. I remember thinking that another problem was similar to this one, but it turned out that is was a lot different.

At first I forgot the case where both right angles were adjacent to the unknown side :P

Daniel Liu - 6 years, 12 months ago

it takes time but nice problem

Mardokay Mosazghi - 6 years, 12 months ago

Damn. I thought only integral areas.. I did eXactly the same thing.

Chinmay Raut - 6 years, 12 months ago

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