The figure shows a yellow equilateral triangle, , inscribed inside a larger equilateral triangle, .
. Which is the larger area, blue or yellow?
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Let the side length of the larger equilateral triangle be 1 . Then A D = 5 1 and D B = 5 4 . By cosine rule ,
D E 2 D E 2 = E B 2 + D B 2 − 2 ⋅ E B ⋅ D B ⋅ cos B = 2 5 1 + 2 5 1 6 − 2 ⋅ 5 1 ⋅ 5 4 ⋅ cos 6 0 ∘ = 2 5 1 7 − 2 5 4 = 2 5 1 3 Note that E B = A D = 5 1
Since the area of an equilateral triangle is directly proportional to the square of its side length, the area of the yellow equilateral triangle is 2 5 1 3 that of the large equilateral triangle. This means the blue area is 2 5 1 2 that of the large equilateral triangle. Hence yellow area is larger than the blue area.