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2013 AMC 10B Problem 7

Problem 7 of 25EasierGeometry

Six points are equally spaced around a circle of radius 1.1. Three of these points are the vertices of a triangle that is neither equilateral nor isosceles. What is the area of this triangle?

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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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Concepts: regular polygon · special right triangle · triangle area

Problem text and solution from the LIVE past-contest archive. See also the AoPS wiki page for community solutions.