What's the area of the regular hexagon?

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In the above diagram the circle has radius r r and each rectangle has dimensions r 2 \dfrac{r}{2} by 1 1

If A H e x a g o n = a b ϕ 2 A_{Hexagon} = \dfrac{\sqrt{a}}{b}\phi^2 , where ϕ \phi is the golden ratio and a a and b b are coprime positive integers, find a + b a + b .


The answer is 5.

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1 solution

Rocco Dalto
Dec 4, 2020

Using the law of cosines on C B O \triangle{CBO} \implies

r 2 = r 2 4 + 1 r cos ( 15 0 ) = r 2 4 + 1 + 3 2 r r^2 = \dfrac{r^2}{4} + 1 - r\cos(150^{\circ}) = \dfrac{r^2}{4} + 1 + \dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2}r \implies 4 r 2 = r 2 + 4 + 2 3 4r^2 = r^2 + 4 + 2\sqrt{3}

3 r 2 2 3 r 4 = 0 r = 3 ± 15 3 = \implies 3r^2 - 2\sqrt{3}r - 4 = 0 \implies r = \dfrac{\sqrt{3} \pm \sqrt{15}}{3} = 1 ± 5 3 \dfrac{1 \pm \sqrt{5}}{\sqrt{3}}

dropping the negative root we have r = 1 + 5 2 ( 2 3 ) = 2 3 ϕ r = \dfrac{1 + \sqrt{5}}{2}(\dfrac{2}{\sqrt{3}}) =\dfrac{2}{\sqrt{3}}\phi \implies

A B = r 2 = ϕ 3 h A O B = ϕ 2 \overline{AB} = \dfrac{r}{2} = \dfrac{\phi}{\sqrt{3}} \implies h_{\triangle_{AOB}} = \dfrac{\phi}{2} \implies

A A O B = 1 2 A B h A O B = ϕ 2 4 3 A H e x a g o n = 6 A A O B = 3 2 ϕ 2 = A_{\triangle{AOB}} = \dfrac{1}{2}\overline{AB} * h_{\triangle{AOB}} = \dfrac{\phi^2}{4\sqrt{3}} \implies A_{Hexagon} = 6 * A_{\triangle{AOB}} = \dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2}\phi^2 =

a b ϕ 2 a + b = 5 \dfrac{\sqrt{a}}{b}\phi^2 \implies a + b = \boxed{5} .

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