2001 AMC 10 Problem 18

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 18 of the 2001 AMC 10, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2001 AMC 10 solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:area ratio tiling percentage

Difficulty rating: 1530

18.

The plane is tiled by congruent squares and congruent pentagons as indicated. The percent of the plane that is enclosed by the pentagons is closest to

$50$

$52$

$54$

$56$

$58$

Solution:

Consider a repeating $3\times3$ block of nine small squares. Four of these nine squares are not part of the pentagons, so the pentagons cover $1-\dfrac49=\dfrac59\approx55.6\%$ of the area.

This is closest to $56.$ Thus, the correct answer is D.

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