Vertices of the small pentagon (purple) divide the sides of the big pentagon by a ratio of in the same order. Find the ratio of the area of the small pentagon to the area of the big pentagon.
In the answer options, denotes the golden ratio .
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Using cosine rule as @Fletcher Mattox has used in solving the problem Big Hexagon Small Hexagon - 2 . Let the side length of the big pentagon be 1 . The the side length of the small pentagon is given by:
s 2 = ( 3 1 ) 2 + ( 3 2 ) 2 − 2 ⋅ 3 1 ⋅ 3 2 cos 1 0 8 ∘ = 9 5 + 9 4 cos 7 2 ∘ = 9 5 + 9 4 ( 2 cos 2 3 6 ∘ − 1 ) = 9 1 + 9 2 φ 2 = 9 1 + 2 ( φ + 1 ) = 9 3 + 2 φ Note that cos ( 1 8 0 ∘ − θ ) = − cos θ and cos 3 6 ∘ = 4 1 + 5 = 2 φ
The ratio of areas A B A s = 1 2 s 2 = 9 3 + 2 φ .