ABCDE is a pentagon with
|AB| = |BC|, |CD| = |DE|,
/ABC = 150°, /CDE = 30°,
and |BD| = 2.
Find the area of ABCDE.
the pentagon can be broken down into 3 triangles, namely ABC CDE and ACE. let x=|AB|=|BC|, y=|CD|=|DE|, and t=angle ACE.
now from law of cosines we have
|AC|^2=2*x^2*(1-Cos(150))=2*x^2*(1+Cos(30)) (1)
|CE|^2=2*y^2*(1-Cos(30)) (2)
|BD|^2=4=x^2+y^2-2*x*y*Cos(t+90) (3)
now the areas of the trinangles can be found using the area formula S1*S2*Sin(t) where s1,s2 are sides and t is the angle between them.
ACE=x^2*Sin(150)=x^2*Sin(30)
CDE=y^2*Sin(30)
ACE=AC*CE*Sin(t)
now AC*CE can be simplified using (2) and (3) as such
AC*CE=x*y*Sqrt(4*(1-cos(30))(1+cos(30)))
AC*CE=2xySqrt(1-cos^2(30))
AC*CE=2xySin(30)
so ACE=2xySin(30)Sin(t)
now sin(t)=-cos(t+90) thus
ACE=-2xySin(30)Cos(t+90)
thus when we add up the 3 areas we can factor out Sin(30)/2 and get
AREA=(Sin(30)/2)*(x^2+y^2-2xyCos(t+90))
this is where we can eliminate x,y,t completely using (1) and thus prove that the area is constant regardless of x,y,t.
AREA=(Sin(30)/2)*4=2Sin(30)=2*(1/2)=1
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Posted by Daniel
on 2008-01-08 00:33:41 |