, , , and .
The trapezoid is divided by the diagonals into four triangles with areasIf , what is ?
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Label the figure as follows. △ N K E and △ N E M share a common altitude, N F , thus, the ratio of their areas equals the ratio of the corresponding bases: A B = E M K E ⇒ E M K E = 3 △ E K L and △ E M N are similar (alternating angles), hence the ratio of their areas equals the square of their similarity ratio, i.e. A D = ( E M K E ) 2 Combining, A D = 3 2 ⇒ D = 9 A