A triangle with area 3 0 cm 2 is cut out of a corner of a square with side length 1 0 cm , as shown in the figure.
If the centroid of the remaining region is 4 cm from the right side of the square, how far is it from the bottom of the square (in centimeters)?
If your answer is a fraction in its simplest form, find the sum of its numerator and denominator.
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
Let's consider the picture rotated of 9 0 ° counterclockwise. It well-known that the centroid of a right triangle has coordinates C t = ( x c = 3 b , y c = 3 h ) , where b is the base and h the high. Let's prove it for x c :
x c = b − A 1 ∫ A d A = b − b h 2 ∫ 0 b ∫ 0 b h x x d y d x = b − b h 2 ∫ 0 b b h x 2 d x = b − b h 2 ⋅ b h ⋅ 3 b 3 = 3 b
Now, we know that the centroid of the square is C s = ( 5 , 5 ) and that the centroid of the blue are is C b = ( ⋅ , 6 ) (in the initial configuration the y -coordinate is 4). The area of the square is obviously A s = 1 0 0 , so, because the area of the triangle A t = 3 0 , the area of the blue area is A b = 7 0 . So, we have that
A s 1 ( A t ⋅ y c , t + A b ⋅ y c , b ) = 5 ⟹ 1 0 0 1 ( 3 h ⋅ 3 0 + 6 ⋅ 7 0 ) = 5 ⟹ h = 8
So, since 2 b h = 3 0 , b = 2 1 5 . Hence, C t = ( x c = 2 5 , y c = 3 8 ) . Eventually
A s 1 ( A t ⋅ x c , t + A b ⋅ x c , b ) = 5 ⟹ 1 0 0 1 ( 3 5 ⋅ 3 0 + x c , b ⋅ 7 0 ) = 5 ⟹ x c , b = 1 4 8 5
In the initial configuration it corrisponds to
1 0 − 1 4 8 5 = 1 4 5 5 ⟹ 5 5 + 1 4 = 6 9 ,
Problem Loading...
Note Loading...
Set Loading...
Set up a coordinate system with origin at the bottom left corner, so that the square has vertices ( 0 , 0 ) , ( 1 0 , 0 ) , ( 1 0 , 1 0 ) , ( 0 , 1 0 ) , and the ends of the cutaway edge have coordinates ( 0 , 1 0 − a ) and ( b , 1 0 ) , where a b = 6 0 .
The centroid G 1 of the removed triangle of paper is located at the algebraic mean of the triangle's vertices, and so has coordinates ( 3 1 b , 3 1 ( 3 0 − a ) ) . The centroid G 2 of the remaining piece of paper has coordinates ( 6 , y ) . Thus 3 0 ( 3 1 b 3 1 ( 3 0 − a ) ) + 7 0 ( 6 y ) = 1 0 0 ( 5 5 ) Thus 1 0 b + 4 2 0 = 5 0 0 , so that b = 8 , and hence a = 2 1 5 . Since 1 0 ( 3 0 − a ) + 7 0 y = 5 0 0 , and hence y = 7 0 2 7 5 = 1 4 5 5 , making the answer 5 5 + 1 4 = 6 9 .