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Parallel Hexagon (Posted on 2011-04-07) Difficulty: 2 of 5
Let ABCDEF be a convex hexagon whose opposite sides are parallel.

Prove that triangles ACE and BDF have the same area.

  Submitted by Bractals    
Rating: 3.0000 (1 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
Make a copy of the hexagon and construct the triangle ACE in one and the triangle BDF in the other.
In the copy with triangle ACE, construct parallelograms ABCG, CDEH, and EFAI. In the copy with triangle BDF, construct parallelograms BCDP, DEFQ, and FABR.

Let [ST..YZ] denote the area of polygon ST..YZ. Then
   [ABCDEF] = [ABCG] + [CDEH] + [EFAI] + [GHI]

            = [BDCP] + [DEFQ] + [FABR] + [PQR]    (1)
Looking at the side lengths of triangles GHI and QRP:
   |GH| = | |AB| - |DE| | = |QR|
   |HI| = | |CD| - |FA| | = |RP|
   |IG| = | |EF| - |BC| | = |PQ|
Therefore, the triangles are congruent and
   [GHI] = [PQR]                                  (2)
Combining (1) and (2) gives
   [ABCG] + [CDEH] + [EFAI] =

            [BDCP] + [DEFQ] + [FABR]              (3)
Combining (2) and (3) gives
   [ACE] = ( [ABCG] + [CDEH] + [EFAI] )/2 + [GHI] +

         = ( [BDCP] + [DEFQ] + [FABR] )/2 + [PQR]

         = [BDF]

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
SolutionSolution (spoiler)broll2011-04-08 02:14:16
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