Six regular octagons each with sides of length 2 are placed in a two-by-three array and inscribed in a square as shown. The area of the square can be written in the form
, where
and
are positive integers. Find
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Draw lines parallel to one side of the square that passes through the vertices of the octagons as shown. Label four adjacent lines passing through adjacent vertices of the octagons A , B , C and D .
The distance from line B to line C is the length of the side of one of the octagons, so it is 2 . the distance from C to D is the length of one leg of an isosceles right triangle with hypotenuse of length 2 . This length is 2 2 = 2 .
It follows that the side of the square has a length is ( 4 × 2 ) + ( 5 × 2 ) = 8 + 5 2 .
⟹ its area is ( 8 + 5 2 ) 2 = 6 4 + 8 0 2 + 5 0 = 1 1 4 + 8 0 2 ⟹ m = 1 1 4 and n = 8 0 ⟹ m + n = 1 9 4 .