Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 3 / 125 of 260 #765 of 2604

Problem 765

AMC 10/12, early questions
Geometry Difficulty 3.5 Multiple choice CEMC Fermat · Canada · 2026

In the diagram, point PP lies
inside square WXYZWXYZ so that △PXY\triangle PXY is an equilateral
triangle.

Figure 0

The measure of ∠WPZ\angle WPZ is

Pick one

Next problem →

Official solution

In equilateral △PXY\triangle PXY, the measure of ∠PXY\angle PXY is 60°60\degree and PX=XYPX=XY.

In square WXYZWXYZ, the measure of
∠WXY\angle WXY is 90°90\degree and WX=XYWX=XY.

Therefore, ∠WXP=∠WXY−∠PXY=90°−60°=30°\angle WXP=\angle WXY-\angle PXY=90\degree-60\degree=30\degree and WX=PXWX=PX.

Thus △WXP\triangle WXP is isosceles,
and so ∠PWX=∠WPX=180°−30°2=75°\angle PWX=\angle WPX=\dfrac{180\degree-30\degree}{2}=75\degree.

The measure of ∠PWZ\angle PWZ is 90°−∠PWX=90°−75°=15°90\degree-\angle PWX=90\degree-75\degree=15\degree.

In a similar way, we can show that ∠PZW=15°\angle PZW=15\degree, and so ∠WPZ=180°−∠PWZ−∠PZW\angle WPZ=180\degree-\angle PWZ-\angle PZW or ∠WPZ=180°−15°−15°=150°\angle WPZ=180\degree-15\degree-15\degree=150\degree.

Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty, ordering) added by this project.