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2005 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 12

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Problem

The figure shown is called a trefoil and is constructed by drawing circular sectors about the sides of the congruent equilateral triangles. What is the area of a trefoil whose horizontal base has length 2?

Image:2005amc10a12.gif

\mathrm{(A) \ } \frac{1}{3}\pi+\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}\qquad \mathrm{(B) \ } \frac{2}{3}\pi\qquad \mathrm{(C) \ } \frac{2}{3}\pi+\...

Solution

The area of the trefoil is equal to the area of a small equilateral triangle plus the area of four 60^\circ sectors with a radius of \frac{2}{2}=1 minus the area of a small equilateral triangle.

This is equivilant to the area of four 60^\circ sectors with a radius of 1.

So the answer is:

4\cdot\frac{60}{360}\cdot\pi\cdot1^2 = \frac{4}{6}\cdot\pi = \frac{2}{3}\pi \Rightarrow B

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