DAY 05

Comment

What is the area of the 1 cm tiles that are visible?

Answer

5 cm.

Readers' methods

Caitlin D, Stafford ST17:
There are four 3 cm by 4 cm triangles.
The area of one triangle is 6 square cm, so the total area of the triangles is 24 square cm.
Therefore the area of the white tile is 49 - 24 = 25 square cm.
5 x 5 = 25, so the sides of the white tile are 5 cm long.

Rona D:
Using Pythagoras' theorem: each triangle is right angled with sides 4, 3 and ?.
The square on the 4 side = 16 and the square on the 3 side = 9, so the square on the ? side is equal to the squares of the other two, so it must be 25, the square root of which is 5.

Pupils from Holgate Comprehensive School, Hucknall, Nottinghamshire:
Pythagorean tripple, 3, 4, 5