Question

Six regular hexagons surround a regular hexagon of side length $1$ as shown. What is the area of $\triangle{ABC}?$

$2\sqrt{3}$

$3\sqrt{3}$

$1+3\sqrt{2}$

$2+2\sqrt{3}$

$3+2\sqrt{3}$

Answer: B

Concepts:regular polygon equilateral triangle triangle area

Difficulty rating: 1480

Solution:

Follow the $60^\circ$ grid formed by the unit hexagons and place $A=(0,0)$ . The marked vertices may then be written as $B=(3,\sqrt3)$ and $C=(3,-\sqrt3)$ .

Thus $BC=2\sqrt3$ , and $\begin{aligned} AB=AC&=\sqrt{3^2+(\sqrt3)^2}\\ &=2\sqrt3. \end{aligned}$ Hence $\triangle ABC$ is equilateral, with area $\frac{(2\sqrt3)^2\sqrt3}{4}=3\sqrt3.$

Thus, the correct answer is B .

2014 AMC 10B Problem 13

Answer: B

Difficulty rating: 1480

Solution:

Problem 13 in Other Years