2021 AMC 10B Spring Problem 20

Attempt Problem 20 of the 2021 AMC 10B Spring 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 2021 AMC 10B Spring solutions, or check the answer key.

All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

20.

The figure below is constructed from 1111 line segments, each of which has length 2.2. The area of pentagon ABCDEABCDE can be written as m+n,\sqrt{m} + \sqrt{n}, where mm and nn are positive integers. What is m+n?m + n ?

20 20

21 21

22 22

23 23

24 24

Answer: D
Concepts:area decompositionequilateral trianglespecial right triangle
Difficulty rating: 1950
Solution:

Let FF be the unlabeled point joined to A,B,A,B, and C.C. Because all the drawn segments have length 2,2, triangles ABFABF and CBFCBF are equilateral and lie on opposite sides of BF.BF. Hence ABC=120,\angle ABC=120^\circ, so

[ABC]=1222sin120=3.[ABC]=\frac12\cdot2\cdot2\sin120^\circ=\sqrt3.

The same reasoning on the other side gives [ADE]=3.[ADE]=\sqrt3. Also, the Law of Cosines in ABC\triangle ABC gives AC2=12,AC^2=12, and similarly AD2=12.AD^2=12. Thus the altitude of isosceles triangle ACDACD to its base CD=2CD=2 is

(12)212=11.\sqrt{(\sqrt{12})^2-1^2}=\sqrt{11}.

Therefore [ACD]=12211=11.[ACD]=\frac12\cdot2\cdot\sqrt{11}=\sqrt{11}. The pentagon's total area is

12+11,\sqrt{12}+\sqrt{11},

so m+n=12+11=23.m+n=12+11=23.

Thus, the answer is D .

← Problem 19#19
Full Exam

Problem 20 in Other Years