A geometry problem by A Former Brilliant Member

Geometry Level 4

Points D , E , D, E, and F F are the first trisection points of sides B C , C A , BC, CA, and A B , AB, respectively.

If the area of A B C \triangle ABC is 1 , 1, find the area of the shaded triangle.

1 9 \dfrac{1}{9} 1 8 \dfrac{1}{8} 1 7 \dfrac{1}{7} 1 6 \dfrac{1}{6} 1 5 \dfrac{1}{5} 2 9 \dfrac{2}{9}

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1 solution

James Wilson
Oct 26, 2017

I placed an equilateral triangle of base 1 on a 2-dimensional rectangular coordinate system, with one vertex at the origin and side along the positive x-axis. Note that this triangle has an area of 3 / 4 \sqrt{3}/4 . Since the area of an equilateral triangle is 3 4 s 2 \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}s^2 , then the desired answer will be s 2 s^2 , where s s is the side length of the inner equilateral triangle. Next, I figured out the equations of the three lines that lie inside the triangle: y = 3 5 x y=\frac{\sqrt{3}}{5}x , y = 3 2 ( x 1 ) y=-\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}(x-1) , and y = 3 3 ( x 1 3 ) y=3\sqrt{3}(x-\frac{1}{3}) . Then I found two intersection points of the three lines, namely, ( 3 7 , 2 7 3 ) (\frac{3}{7},\frac{2}{7}\sqrt{3}) and ( 5 14 , 3 14 ) (\frac{5}{14},\frac{\sqrt{3}}{14}) . So, s 2 = ( 3 7 5 14 ) 2 + ( 2 7 3 3 14 ) 2 = 1 7 s^2=(\frac{3}{7}-\frac{5}{14})^2+(\frac{2}{7}\sqrt{3}-\frac{\sqrt{3}}{14})^2=\frac{1}{7} .

What about the general case?

Calvin Lin Staff - 3 years, 7 months ago

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Oh wow, I just realized that the question wasn't talking about an equilateral triangle. I thought it was XD.

James Wilson - 3 years, 7 months ago

Complete parallelogram ABCM. Prove that CH=HI, HG=GB, IG=AI. Now join BI, CG, AH. triangle is divided in 7 equal areas.

Shiv Mittal - 3 years, 5 months ago

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