2021 AMC 12B Fall Problem 15

Attempt Problem 15 of the 2021 AMC 12B Fall 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 12B Fall solutions, or check the answer key.

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15.

Three identical square sheets of paper each with side length 66 are stacked on top of each other. The middle sheet is rotated clockwise 3030^\circ about its center and the top sheet is rotated clockwise 6060^\circ about its center, resulting in the 2424-sided polygon shown in the figure below. The area of this polygon can be expressed in the form abc,a - b\sqrt{c}, where a,a, b,b, and cc are positive integers, and cc is not divisible by the square of any prime. What is a+b+c?a + b + c?

7575

9393

9696

129129

147147

Answer: E
Concepts:area decompositiontrigonometrysymmetry
Difficulty rating: 2100
Small Hint:

By symmetry the polygon’s vertices alternate between outer square-corners and inner edge-crossings, every 1515^\circ

Big Hint:

The outer vertices are at distance 323\sqrt2 from the center and the inner ones at distance 232\sqrt3

Solution:

Because the three squares are rotated by 0,0^\circ, 30,30^\circ, and 60,60^\circ, the figure has 1212-fold symmetry. Its 2424 vertices alternate every 1515^\circ: outer vertices are the square corners at distance 323\sqrt2 from the center, and inner vertices are edge crossings at distance 23.2\sqrt3.

Connecting the center to all 2424 vertices splits the polygon into 2424 triangles, each with sides 323\sqrt2 and 232\sqrt3 and included angle 15.15^\circ. The total area is 2412(32)(23)sin15=726624. \begin{aligned} &24 \cdot \tfrac12 (3\sqrt2)(2\sqrt3)\sin 15^\circ \\ &= 72\sqrt6 \cdot \dfrac{\sqrt6 - \sqrt2}{4}. \end{aligned}

This simplifies to 186(62)=108363,18\sqrt6(\sqrt6 - \sqrt2) = 108 - 36\sqrt3, so a+b+c=108+36+3=147.a + b + c = 108 + 36 + 3 = 147.

Thus, the correct answer is E.

Problem 14#14
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