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Geometry Level 2

Points A A , B B , C C , D D , E E , F F , G G , H H , and I I are on a circle such that A B C = B C D = C D E = D E F = E F G = F G H = G H I = 22.5 ° \angle ABC = \angle BCD = \angle CDE = \angle DEF = \angle EFG = \angle FGH = \angle GHI = 22.5° and D E < E F DE < EF . Which area is greater?

Bonus: Generalize a solution for any angle 90 ° n \frac{90°}{n} , where n n is a positive integer greater than 1 1 .

Inspiration

green red they are equal

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1 solution

David Vreken
May 30, 2019

Draw I G IG and consider G H I \triangle GHI . Let O O be the center of the circle with a radius of 1 1 . Since G H I = 22.5 ° \angle GHI = 22.5° , central angle G O I = 45 ° \angle GOI = 45° . Draw the perpendicular bisector of G I GI at J J , and draw H K O J HK \perp OJ at K K , and let x = H O I x = \angle HOI .

Then I O J = 22.5 ° \angle IOJ = 22.5° , so that from I O J \triangle IOJ we have I J = sin 22.5 ° IJ = \sin 22.5° and O J = cos 22.5 ° OJ = \cos 22.5° , and from H O K \triangle HOK we have O K = cos ( x + 22.5 ° ) OK = \cos (x + 22.5°) . Therefore, J K = cos 22.5 ° cos ( x + 22.5 ° ) JK = \cos 22.5° - \cos (x + 22.5°) and G I = 2 sin 22.5 ° GI = 2 \sin 22.5° , so that G H I \triangle GHI has an area of A G H I = 1 2 G I J K = sin 22.5 ° ( cos 22.5 ° cos ( x + 22.5 ° ) ) A_{\triangle GHI} = \frac{1}{2} \cdot GI \cdot JK = \sin 22.5° (\cos 22.5° - \cos (x + 22.5°)) .

Since inscribed angles A B C = B C D = C D E = D E F = E F G = F G H = 22.5 ° \angle ABC = \angle BCD = \angle CDE = \angle DEF = \angle EFG = \angle FGH = 22.5° , central angles A O C = B O D = C O E = D O F = E O G = F O H = 45 ° \angle AOC = \angle BOD = \angle COE = \angle DOF = \angle EOG = \angle FOH = 45° . Then by a similar method from above, A E F G = sin 22.5 ° ( cos 22.5 ° cos ( x + 22.5 ° + 90 ° ) ) A_{\triangle EFG} = \sin 22.5° (\cos 22.5° - \cos (x + 22.5° + 90°)) , A C D E = sin 22.5 ° ( cos 22.5 ° cos ( x + 22.5 ° + 180 ° ) ) A_{\triangle CDE} = \sin 22.5° (\cos 22.5° - \cos (x + 22.5° + 180°)) , and A A B C = sin 22.5 ° ( cos 22.5 ° cos ( x + 22.5 ° + 270 ° ) ) A_{\triangle ABC} = \sin 22.5° (\cos 22.5° - \cos (x + 22.5° + 270°)) .

That means the sum of the areas of the red triangles is A = sin 22.5 ° ( cos 22.5 ° cos ( x + 22.5 ° ) ) + sin 22.5 ° ( cos 22.5 ° cos ( x + 22.5 ° + 90 ° ) ) A = \sin 22.5° (\cos 22.5° - \cos (x + 22.5°)) + \sin 22.5° (\cos 22.5° - \cos (x + 22.5° + 90°)) + + sin 22.5 ° ( cos 22.5 ° cos ( x + 22.5 ° + 180 ° ) ) + sin 22.5 ° ( cos 22.5 ° cos ( x + 22.5 ° + 270 ° ) ) \sin 22.5° (\cos 22.5° - \cos (x + 22.5° + 180°)) + \sin 22.5° (\cos 22.5° - \cos (x + 22.5° + 270°)) = = 4 sin 22.5 ° cos 22.5 ° 4 \sin 22.5° \cos 22.5° , which is equivalent to the sum of the areas of congruent triangles A O C \triangle AOC , C O E \triangle COE , E O G \triangle EOG , and G O I \triangle GOI , which means the red area is half the circle, which means the two areas are equal .


The solution above is for the specific case of inscribed angles of 90 ° 4 = 22.5 ° \frac{90°}{4} = 22.5° where n = 4 n = 4 . The same method can be used for a more general solution for inscribed angles of 90 ° n \frac{90°}{n} where n n is a positive integer greater than 1 1 , to find that one set of same-colored triangles have an area sum of k = 0 n 1 sin ( 90 ° n ) ( cos ( 90 ° n ) cos ( 90 ° n + x + k 180 ° n ) ) = n sin ( 90 ° n ) cos ( 90 ° n ) \displaystyle \sum_{k=0}^{n - 1} \sin(\frac{90°}{n})(\cos(\frac{90°}{n}) - \cos(\frac{90°}{n} + x + k\frac{180°}{n})) = n \sin (\frac{90°}{n}) \cos (\frac{90°}{n}) , which is equivalent to the area of half a regular polygon with 2 n 2n sides, to conclude that the two areas are equal for any integer n > 1 n > 1 .

@David Vreken Nice generalization! I solved the previous problem and gave an extension here . You may want to watch it.

Chan Lye Lee - 1 year, 11 months ago

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Nice video! I especially liked the extension, I hadn't noticed it before.

David Vreken - 1 year, 11 months ago

The first one is a bit more than the last one but the only thing is that the game is a little bit slow and the game is not a bit slow but the game is slow and slow but the game is slow but it is really slow and the only thing I can do is to keep the pressure off of my slow game is not the game is not worth the time and time for the slow slow game and the slow slow and the game is not slow and it doesn’t get the answer so I will try it out when you have to wait and the time it was time and it will get a little better when I was in my room I got a bit slow slow and slow slow but the game is slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow slow but slow slow and slow

Steve Smith - 1 year, 6 months ago

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