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1986 AJHSME Problems/Problem 13

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Contents

Problem

The perimeter of the polygon shown is

draw((0,0)--(0,6)--(8,6)--(8,3)--(2.7,3)--(2.7,0)--cycle);label("$6$",(0,3),W);label("$8$",(4,6),N);

\text{(A)}\ 14 \qquad \text{(B)}\ 20 \qquad \text{(C)}\ 28 \qquad \text{(D)}\ 48

\text{(E)}\ \text{cannot be determined from the information given}

Solution

Solution 1

For the segments parallel to the side with side length 8, let's call those two segments a and b, the longer segment being b, the shorter one being a.

For the segments parallel to the side with side length 6, let's call those two segments c and d, the longer segment being d, the shorter one being c.

So the perimeter of the polygon would be...

8 + 6 + a + b + c + d

Note that a + b = 8, and c + d = 6.

Now we plug those in: \begin{align*}8 + 6 + a + b + c + d &= 8 + 6 + 8 + 6 \\&= 14 \times 2 \\&= 28 \\\end{align*}

28 is \boxed{\text{C}}.

Solution 2

unitsize(12);draw((0,0)--(0,6)--(8,6)--(8,3)--(2.7,3)--(2.7,0)--cycle);label("$6$",(0,3),W);label("$8$",(...

Clearly the perimeter of the requested region is the same as the perimeter of the rectangle with the dashed portion. This makes the answer obviously 2(6+8)=28\rightarrow \boxed{\text{C}}

See Also

1986 AJHSME (ProblemsResources)
Preceded by
Problem 12
Followed by
Problem 14
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
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