PaperCut

Calculus Level 5

A triangle with area 30 cm 2 30\,\text{cm}^2 is cut out of a corner of a square with side length 10 cm 10\,\text{cm} , as shown in the figure.

If the centroid of the remaining region is 4 cm 4\,\text{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.


The answer is 69.

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4 solutions

Mark Hennings
Mar 6, 2018

Set up a coordinate system with origin at the bottom left corner, so that the square has vertices ( 0 , 0 ) , ( 10 , 0 ) , ( 10 , 10 ) , ( 0 , 10 ) (0,0)\,,\,(10,0)\,,\,(10,10)\,,\,(0,10) , and the ends of the cutaway edge have coordinates ( 0 , 10 a ) (0,10-a) and ( b , 10 ) (b,10) , where a b = 60 ab = 60 .

The centroid G 1 G_1 of the removed triangle of paper is located at the algebraic mean of the triangle's vertices, and so has coordinates ( 1 3 b , 1 3 ( 30 a ) ) (\tfrac13b,\tfrac13(30-a)) . The centroid G 2 G_2 of the remaining piece of paper has coordinates ( 6 , y ) (6,y) . Thus 30 ( 1 3 b 1 3 ( 30 a ) ) + 70 ( 6 y ) = 100 ( 5 5 ) 30 \left(\begin{array}{c} \tfrac13b \\ \tfrac13(30-a) \end{array} \right) + 70\left(\begin{array}{c} 6 \\ y \end{array}\right) \; = \; 100\left(\begin{array}{c} 5 \\ 5 \end{array} \right) Thus 10 b + 420 = 500 10b + 420 = 500 , so that b = 8 b=8 , and hence a = 15 2 a = \tfrac{15}{2} . Since 10 ( 30 a ) + 70 y = 500 10(30 - a) + 70y = 500 , and hence y = 275 70 = 55 14 y = \tfrac{275}{70} = \tfrac{55}{14} , making the answer 55 + 14 = 69 55 + 14 = \boxed{69} .

Aswin Ramesh
Mar 6, 2018

Digvijay Singh
Mar 6, 2018

Nicola Mignoni
Jun 29, 2018

Let's consider the picture rotated of 90 ° 90° counterclockwise. It well-known that the centroid of a right triangle has coordinates C t = ( x c = b 3 , y c = h 3 ) \displaystyle C_t=\bigg(x_c=\frac{b}{3}, y_c=\frac{h}{3}\bigg) , where b b is the base and h h the high. Let's prove it for x c x_c :

x c = b 1 A A d A = b 2 b h 0 b 0 h b x x d y d x = b 2 b h 0 b h b x 2 d x = b 2 b h h b b 3 3 = b 3 \displaystyle x_c=b-\frac{1}{A}\int_{A}^{} dA=b-\frac{2}{bh} \int_{0}^{b} \int_{0}^{\frac{h}{b}x} xdydx=b-\frac{2}{bh} \int_{0}^{b} \frac{h}{b}x^2 dx=b-\frac{2}{bh}\cdot \frac{h}{b} \cdot \frac{b^3}{3}=\frac{b}{3}

Now, we know that the centroid of the square is C s = ( 5 , 5 ) C_s=(5,5) and that the centroid of the blue are is C b = ( , 6 ) C_b=(\cdot,6) (in the initial configuration the y y -coordinate is 4). The area of the square is obviously A s = 100 A_s=100 , so, because the area of the triangle A t = 30 A_t=30 , the area of the blue area is A b = 70 A_b=70 . So, we have that

1 A s ( A t y c , t + A b y c , b ) = 5 1 100 ( h 3 30 + 6 70 ) = 5 h = 8 \displaystyle \frac{1}{A_s} (A_t \cdot y_{c,t}+A_b \cdot y_{c,b})=5 \hspace{5pt} \Longrightarrow \hspace{5pt} \frac{1}{100} \bigg(\frac{h}{3} \cdot 30+ 6\cdot 70\bigg)=5 \hspace{5pt} \Longrightarrow \hspace{5pt} h=8

So, since b h 2 = 30 \displaystyle \frac{bh}{2}=30 , b = 15 2 \displaystyle b=\frac{15}{2} . Hence, C t = ( x c = 5 2 , y c = 8 3 ) \displaystyle C_t=\bigg(x_c=\frac{5}{2}, y_c=\frac{8}{3}\bigg) . Eventually

1 A s ( A t x c , t + A b x c , b ) = 5 1 100 ( 5 3 30 + x c , b 70 ) = 5 x c , b = 85 14 \displaystyle \frac{1}{A_s} (A_t \cdot x_{c,t}+A_b \cdot x_{c,b})=5 \hspace{5pt} \Longrightarrow \hspace{5pt} \frac{1}{100} \bigg(\frac{5}{3} \cdot 30+ x_{c,b}\cdot 70\bigg)=5 \hspace{5pt} \Longrightarrow \hspace{5pt} x_{c,b}=\frac{85}{14}

In the initial configuration it corrisponds to

10 85 14 = 55 14 55 + 14 = 69 \displaystyle 10-\frac{85}{14}=\frac{55}{14} \hspace{5pt} \Longrightarrow \hspace{5pt} 55+14=\boxed{69} ,

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