Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /141 of 168

Geometry Difficulty 2.4 Junior Find the answer

In a rectangle, the perimeter of quadrilateral PQRSPQRS is given. If the horizontal distance between adjacent dots in the same row is 1 and the vertical distance between adjacent dots in the same column is 1, what is the perimeter of quadrilateral PQRSPQRS?

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

The perimeter of quadrilateral PQRSPQRS equals PQ+QR+RS+SPPQ+QR+RS+SP. Since the dots are spaced 1 unit apart horizontally and vertically, then PQ=4,QR=4PQ=4, QR=4, and PS=1PS=1. Thus, the perimeter equals 4+4+RS+14+4+RS+1 which equals RS+9RS+9. We need to determine the length of RSRS. If we draw a horizontal line from SS to point TT on QRQR, we create a right-angled triangle STRSTR with ST=4ST=4 and TR=3TR=3. By the Pythagorean Theorem, RS2=ST2+TR2=42+32=25RS^{2}=ST^{2}+TR^{2}=4^{2}+3^{2}=25. Since RS>0RS>0, then RS=25=5RS=\sqrt{25}=5. Thus, the perimeter of quadrilateral PQRSPQRS is 5+9=145+9=14.

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: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.