A square of side 112 is partitioned in 21 squares of different sizes. Each number (shown in the figure) denotes the side length of its square.
Find the side lengths of the smallest, 2nd smallest and 3rd smallest squares.
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I actually solved it from the figure.
First we label the squares with unknown sides alphabetically with increasing order. That is a is the smallest square; b , the second smallest; c , the third smallest; and so on.
Then we note that e = 3 5 − 2 7 = 8 and h = 5 0 − 3 5 = 1 5 . e + l = 2 7 ⟹ l = 2 7 − 8 = 1 9 , e + g = l = 1 9 ⟹ g = 1 9 − 8 = 1 1 . h + a = l = g + c ⟹ c − a = h − g = 1 5 − 1 1 = 4 . Now h + a = l , since l ≥ h + 2 and h = 1 5 ⟹ a ≥ 2 and c ≥ 6 . But e = 8 ⟹ c ≤ 6 . Therefore c = 6 and a = 2 . The answer is therefore 2 , 4 , 6 .