2013 AMC 10B Problem 7

Attempt Problem 7 of the 2013 AMC 10B below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2013 AMC 10B solutions, or check the answer key.

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7.

Six points are equally spaced around a circle of radius 1. Three of these points are the vertices of a triangle that is neither equilateral nor isosceles. What is the area of this triangle?

33 \dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{3}

32 \dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2}

1 1

2 \sqrt{2}

2 2

Answer: B
Concepts:regular polygonspecial right triangletriangle area
Difficulty rating: 1280
Solution:

Six equally spaced points on the circle form a regular hexagon. A triangle using three of them is not equilateral or isosceles only when its angles are 30,60,9030^\circ,60^\circ,90^\circ.

The hypotenuse is a diameter of the unit circle, so it has length 22. The legs of the 3030-6060-9090 triangle are 11 and 3\sqrt3.

The area is 1213=32\frac12\cdot1\cdot\sqrt3=\frac{\sqrt3}{2}.

Thus, the correct answer is B .

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