2023 AMC 10B Problem 25

Attempt Problem 25 of the 2023 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 2023 AMC 10B solutions, or check the answer key.

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25.

A regular pentagon with area 1+51 + \sqrt{5} is printed on paper and cut out. All five vertices are folded to the center of the pentagon, creating a smaller pentagon. What is the area of the new pentagon?

454 - \sqrt{5}

51\sqrt{5} - 1

8358 - 3\sqrt{5}

5+12\dfrac{\sqrt{5} + 1}{2}

2+53\dfrac{2 + \sqrt{5}}{3}

Answer: B
Concepts:regular polygonpaper foldingsimilarityarea ratio
Difficulty rating: 2600
Solution:

Let the original pentagon have circumradius R.R. Folding a vertex to the center creases along the perpendicular bisector of the center-to-vertex segment, a line at distance R2\tfrac{R}{2} from the center. Those five creases bound the new regular pentagon, whose apothem is R2\tfrac{R}{2} (the original apothem was Rcos36R\cos 36^\circ). So the new pentagon is similar with ratio R/2Rcos36,\tfrac{R/2}{R\cos 36^\circ}, and its area is the old area times (12cos36)2.\left(\tfrac{1}{2\cos 36^\circ}\right)^2. Plug in cos36=1+54:\cos 36^\circ = \tfrac{1+\sqrt5}{4}: the factor becomes 23+5=352.\tfrac{2}{3+\sqrt5} = \tfrac{3-\sqrt5}{2}. So the new area is (5+1)352=51.(\sqrt5+1)\cdot\tfrac{3-\sqrt5}{2} = \sqrt{5} - 1. Thus, B is the correct answer.

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