Rectangle Inception

Geometry Level 1

A blue rectangle is placed within a yellow rectangle, and some of the lengths are shown.

What are the dimensions of the yellow rectangle?

16 × 19 16 \times 19 17 × 17 17 \times 17 15 × 20 15 \times 20 19 × 21 19 \times 21

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3 solutions

Felipe Knöller
Aug 14, 2016

First of all, we have two small right triangles with legs 3 and 4, so the hypotenuse is 3 2 + 4 2 = 9 + 16 = 25 3^2 + 4^2 = 9 + 16 = 25 (it's the most famous pythagorean triple, by the way). Then, we can see that the two big right triangles are similar to the small ones by analyzing the angles. We just need to know how much times bigger it's than the small ones. So, we have: 20 5 = 4 \frac {20}{5} = 4 . Four times bigger :D Now, paying attention to the angles, the down leg is 4 × 3 = 12 4\times 3 = 12 and the other is 4 × 4 = 16 4\times 4 = 16 .

Finally, the sides of the rectangle are 4 + 12 = 16 4 + 12 = 16 and 16 + 3 = 19 16 + 3 = 19 . 16 × 19 \boxed{16\times19}

Can you clarify why the four triangles are congruence? I couldn't prove it.

Tan Vu - 4 years, 9 months ago

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They aren't congruent, they are similar! Suppose the upper-left vertex of the yellow rectangle is A A , the upper-right B B , and so on until D D . Now, suppose the vertex of the blue rectangle that is above D D is E E , the one to the left of B B is F F and so on until H H ; In E D H \bigtriangleup EDH , the upper angle is α \alpha , and the lower angle (not the right angle) is β \beta . So, α + β = 90 ° \alpha + \beta = 90° . We also have D H E + E H G + G H C = 180 ° β + 90 ° + γ = 180 ° β + γ = 90 ° γ = α \angle DHE + \angle EHG + \angle GHC = 180° \longmapsto \beta + 90° + \gamma = 180° \longmapsto \beta + \gamma = 90° \longmapsto \gamma = \alpha . Finally, we can conclude that E D H \bigtriangleup EDH is similar to H C G \bigtriangleup HCG . The same process aplies for the others.

Felipe Knöller - 4 years, 9 months ago

I did the same way. Similar triangle have their sides in same ratio.

Bhupendra Jangir - 4 years, 7 months ago
Stranger Rr
Aug 24, 2016

If hypotenuse is 20, then possible sides are 16,12 or 12,16. So answer would be 20 X 15 or 16 X 19. The second matches with given options.

I don't think that conclusion can be drawn. There should be infinitely many pairs of sides where the hypotenuse is 20. Right?

Rajendran Dandapani - 4 years, 8 months ago
Ramiel To-ong
Sep 1, 2016

pythagorean triple logic

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