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imc

geometry intermediate

Problem

In regular hexagon , points , , , and are chosen on sides , , , and respectively, so lines , , , and are parallel and equally spaced. What is the ratio of the area of hexagon to the area of hexagon ?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Solution
We draw a diagram to make our work easier: Assume that is of length . Therefore, the area of is . To find the area of , we draw , and find the area of the trapezoids and . From this, we know that . We also know that the combined heights of the trapezoids is , since and are equally spaced, and the height of each of the trapezoids is . From this, we know and are each of the way from to and , respectively. We know that these are both equal to . We find the area of each of the trapezoids, which both happen to be , and the combined area is . We find that is equal to .
Final answer
C