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geometry intermediate

Problem

In the diagram, two pairs of identical isosceles triangles are cut off of square , leaving rectangle . The total area cut off is . What is the length of , in meters?
problem
Solution
Let and .

Since and are isosceles, then and .

Since there are two pairs of identical triangles, then and . is right-angled (since is a square) and isosceles, so its area (and hence the area of ) is .

Similarly, the area of each of and is .

Therefore, the total area of the four triangles is , so .

Now, by the Pythagorean Theorem, used first in , then in and , so m.
Final answer
20