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jmc

geometry junior

Problem

An equilateral triangle shares a common side with a square as shown. What is the number of degrees in ?
problem
Solution
Since the square and the equilateral triangle share a side, all sides of the square are the same length as all sides of the equilateral triangle. Specifically, we have , and so is isosceles with equal angles at and . Let denote the number of degrees in the measure of each of these two angles (that is, ).

Angle is equal to (since a square and an equilateral triangle have interior angles of and , respectively). Since the sum of angles in a triangle is , we have giving .
Final answer
15