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Printsmc
geometry senior
Problem
In the -plane, consider the L-shaped region bounded by horizontal and vertical segments with vertices at and . The slope of the line through the origin that divides the area of this region exactly in half is 
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
Solution
Let the vertices be . It is easy to see that the line must pass through . Let the line intersect at the point (i.e. the point units below ). Since the quadrilateral and pentagon must have the same area, we have the equation . This simplifies into , or , so . Therefore the slope of the line is
Final answer
E