Origami Fun

Geometry Level 3

The top tip of an equilateral triangular paper of a unit side length is folded orthogonally toward the bottom segment, so that the area of the folded triangle is twice the area of either of the small triangles. If the side length of the folded triangle is s 1 s_1 , and the side length of the small triangle is s 2 s_2 , evaluate 1000 ( s 1 + 2 s 2 ) \left\lfloor 1000 (s_1 + 2s_2)\right\rfloor .


The answer is 1414.

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3 solutions

Note that all triangles in the figure are equilateral triangles. Denote by A 1 A_1 , A 2 A_2 the areas of the equilateral triangles of side s 1 s_1 and s 2 s_2 respectively.
Then, we have A 1 A 2 = 2 ( s 1 s 2 ) 2 = 2 s 1 2 = 2 s 2 2 s 1 = s 2 2 ( 1 ) \frac{{{A}_{1}}}{{{A}_{2}}}=2\Rightarrow {{\left( \frac{{{s}_{1}}}{{{s}_{2}}} \right)}^{2}}=2\Rightarrow {{s}_{1}}^{2}=2{{s}_{2}}^{2}\Rightarrow {{s}_{1}}={{s}_{2}}\sqrt{2} \ \ \ \ \ (1) Moreover,

s 1 + s 2 = 1 ( 1 ) s 2 2 + s 2 = 1 s 2 ( 2 + 1 ) = 1 s 2 = 1 2 + 1 s 2 = 2 1 {{s}_{1}}+{{s}_{2}}=1\overset{\left( 1 \right)}{\mathop{\Rightarrow }}\,{{s}_{2}}\sqrt{2}+{{s}_{2}}=1\Rightarrow {{s}_{2}}\left( \sqrt{2}+1 \right)=1\Rightarrow {{s}_{2}}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}+1}\Rightarrow {{s}_{2}}=\sqrt{2}-1 Hence, ( 1 ) s 1 = ( 2 1 ) 2 s 1 = 2 2 \left( 1 \right)\Rightarrow {{s}_{1}}=\left( \sqrt{2}-1 \right)\sqrt{2}\Rightarrow {{s}_{1}}=2-\sqrt{2} Finally,

s 1 + 2 s 2 = 2 2 + 2 ( 2 1 ) = 2 1 , 4143 {{s}_{1}}+2{{s}_{2}}=2-\sqrt{2}+2\left( \sqrt{2}-1 \right)=\sqrt{2}\approx 1,4143 For the answer, 1000 ( ( s 1 + 2 s 2 ) ) = 1414 \left\lfloor 1000\left( \left( {{s}_{1}}+2{{s}_{2}} \right) \right) \right\rfloor =\boxed{1414} .

Chew-Seong Cheong
Nov 13, 2020

Note that s 1 + s 2 = 1 s_1 + s_2 = 1 , the side length of the equilateral triangular paper. For figure of the same shape, in this case the equilateral triangle, area is directly proportional to the square of the linear dimension, in this case the side length. This means that s 1 2 s 2 2 = 2 s 1 = 2 s 2 \dfrac {s_1^2}{s_2^2} = 2 \implies s_1 = \sqrt 2 s_2 . Then we have:

s 1 + s 2 = 1 ( 2 + 1 ) s 2 = 1 s 2 = 1 2 + 1 s 1 + 2 s 2 = ( 2 + 2 ) s 2 = 2 + 2 2 + 1 = 2 ( 2 + 1 ) 2 + 1 = 2 1000 ( s 1 + 2 s 2 ) = 1000 2 = 1414 \begin{aligned} s_1 + s_2 & = 1 \\ (\sqrt 2 + 1)s_2 & = 1 \\ \implies s_2 & = \frac 1{\sqrt 2 + 1} \\ s_1 + 2s_2 & = (\sqrt 2 + 2) s_2 = \frac {2+\sqrt 2}{\sqrt 2 +1} = \frac {\sqrt 2(\sqrt 2 +1)}{\sqrt 2+1} = \sqrt 2 \\ \implies \left \lfloor 1000(s_1+2s_2)\right \rfloor & = \lfloor 1000\sqrt 2 \rfloor = \boxed{1414} \end{aligned}

Ron Gallagher
Nov 13, 2020

Since the large triangle has side length 1 and is equilateral, its height is given by sin(60 degrees) = sqrt(3) / 2. Let h be the height of the folded triangle. We then see that the height of the little triangle is sqrt(3)/2 - h. Hence, we have:

Area(folded triangle) = A(fold) = (1/2) h s1, and

Area(little triangle) = A(little) = (1/2) (s2) (sqrt(3)/2 - h) = (1/2) (1-s1) (sqrt(3)/2 - h)

(the last equality follows since s1 + s2 = 1 = length of the side of the big triangle).

Utilizing the relationship A(fold) = 2*A(little) we find:

(1/2) (s1) h = (1-s1)*(sqrt(3)/2 - h) (equation 1)

But, from the folded triangle, we find:

tan(60 degrees) = sqrt(3) = h/((s1)/2), so that:

h = (s1)*sqrt(3)/2

Substituting this into equation 1 and simplifying yields the equation:

(s1)^2 -4*s1 +2 = 0 or

s1 = 2 - sqrt(2) (we reject the negative root).

Hence, s2 = 1-s1 = sqrt(2) - 1, so that

1000 (s1 + 2 s2) = 1000*sqrt(2)

The greatest integer function of this last quantity is 1414.

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