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Printsmc
counting and probability senior
Problem
The figures , , , and shown are the first in a sequence of figures. For , is constructed from by surrounding it with a square and placing one more diamond on each side of the new square than had on each side of its outside square. For example, figure has diamonds. How many diamonds are there in figure ? 
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
Solution
Split into congruent triangles by its diagonals (like in the pictures in the problem). This shows that the number of diamonds it contains is equal to times the th triangular number (i.e. the diamonds within the triangles or between the diagonals) and (the diamonds on sides of the triangles or on the diagonals). The th triangular number is . Putting this together for this gives:
Final answer
E