A triangle with vertices as A=(1,3), B=(5,1), and C=(4,4) is plotted on a 6×5 grid. What fraction of the grid is covered by the triangle?
Pick one
Solution
Solution 1 The area of △ABC is equal to half the product of its base and height. By the Pythagorean Theorem, we find its height is 12+22=5, and its base is 22+42=20. We multiply these and divide by 2 to find the area of the triangle is 25⋅20=2100=210=5. Since the grid has an area of 30, the fraction of the grid covered by the triangle is 305=(A) 61.
Solution 2 Note angle ∠ACB is right; thus, the area is 12+32×12+32×21=10×21=5; thus, the fraction of the total is 305=(A)61.
Solution 3 By the Shoelace Theorem, the area of △ABC=∣21(15+4+4−1−20−12)∣=∣21(−10)∣=5. This means the fraction of the total area is 305=(A)61.
Solution 4 The smallest rectangle that follows the grid lines and completely encloses △ABC has an area of 12, where △ABC splits the rectangle into four triangles. The area of △ABC is therefore 12−(24⋅2+23⋅1+23⋅1)=12−(4+23+23)=12−7=5. That means that △ABC takes up 305=(A)61 of the grid.
Solution 5 Using Pick's Theorem, the area of the triangle is 4+24−1=5. Therefore, the triangle takes up 305=(A)61 of the grid.
Solution 6 (Heron's Formula, Not Recommended) We can find the lengths of the sides by using the Pythagorean Theorem. Then, we apply Heron's Formula to find the area. (210+10+25)(210+10+25−10)(210+10+25−10)(210+10+25−25). This simplifies to (10+5)(10+5−10)(10+5−10)(10+5−25). Again, we simplify to get (10+5)(5)(5)(10−5). The middle two terms inside the square root multiply to 5, and the first and last terms inside the square root multiply to 102−52=10−5=5. This means that the area of the triangle is 5⋅5=5. The area of the grid is 6⋅5=30. Thus, the answer is 305=(A) 61. -BorealBear
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.
Source: NuminaMath-1.5,
licensed Apache-2.0.
Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.