Geometry Worksheet 2 – Lengths and Areas

All SMC, BMO and Mentoring problems are © UKMT (www.ukmt.org.uk)

1. [Source: IMC] Three equilateral triangles of unit side are placed side by side. Determine the
distance AB.
B

2. [Source: UKMT Mentoring] ABCD is a square with side length 1. P is the midpoint of CD and
Q is the intersection of AP and BD. Find the area of quadrilateral BCPQ.

3. Find the proportion of the following shapes that are shaded.

a b c

4. [Source: SMC] The diagram shows a pattern found on a floor tile in the cathedral in Spoleto,
Umbria. A circle of radius 1 surrounds four quarter circles, also of radius 1, which enclose a
square. The pattern has four axes of symmetry. What is the side length of the square?

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 5. One large circle and 3 smaller circles are inscribed inside a triangle. If the radius of the larger
circle is 1, determine the radius of the smaller circles.

6. [Source: SMC] The diagram shows two different semicircle inside a square with sides of
length 2. The common centre of the semicircles lies on the diagonal of the square. What is
the total shaded area?
A π B 6 π ( 3−2 √ 2 ) C π √2
D 3 π ( 2−√ 2 ) E 8 π ( 2 √ 2−3 )

7. In the diagram, the circle and the two semicircles have radius 1. What is the
perimeter of the square?

A 6+ 4 √ 2 B 2+ 4 √ 2+ 2 √ 3 C 3 √ 2+ 4 √ 3
D 4 +2 √ 2+ 2 √ 6 E 12

8. [Source: SMC] [Difficult!] Three circles are contained within two parallel lines. The radii of
the smallest and next biggest circles is s and t respectively. What is the radius of the big
circle in terms of s and t ?

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 Geometry Worksheet 2 - ANSWERS

1. The horizontal distance between the two points is 5/2. Splitting a triangle into two right-angled ones
and using Pythagoras, the height of the triangle is √ 3/2. Then by forming a triangle using these two
lengths and using Pythagoras, the distance AB is √ 28/2= √ 7 .

2. We can split the quadrilateral up into separate shapes:

1 1
The shaded square clearly has area and the top-right triangle area . The key is finding where the
4 8
two diagonal lines intersect. Suppose we imagined the point D as the origin, and DC the x-axis.
Then the line AP has equation y=1−2 x and the line DB has equation y=x . They intersect when
1 1 1 1 1
1−2 x=x , so x= . Since P has an x value of , the width of the left shaded triangle is − =
3 2 2 3 6
1 1 1 1 1
and the height . So it has an area of × × = .
2 2 6 2 24
1 1 1 5
The total area therefore is + + = .
24 4 8 12

The ‘model solutions’ instead used the fact that DPQ and ABQ are similar (a justification of why
the angles are the same would be required), with lengths in the ratio 2 :1. This provides an
alternative way of establishing that Q is a third of the way between lines DC and AB.

3. A)

Let the radius of the circle be 1. Then we can see using simple trigonometry that
the distance from the centre of the circle to the corners of the triangle is 2. The
two smaller triangles in the diagram combined make an isosceles triangle with
two lengths of 2 and an angle of 120 ° between them. Thus the area of this is
1 1
ab sin C= ×2 ×2 ×sin 120=2 sin 60=√ 3. The big diagram consists of 3
2 2
of these, so the total area is
3 √ 3. The area of the circle is π , so the proportion is
π
.
3 √3

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 B)

We can use a similar approach. Let the radius of the circle be 1. Then a third of the triangle is one with
two sides 1 and an angle of 120 ° between them. This has the area

×1 ×1 ×sin 120= sin 60= √ . So that total area of the triangle

1 1 3
2 2 4
is √ , and the proportion shaded is clearly √ .
3 3 3 3
4 4π

C)

Let the radius of the larger circle be 1. Then by Pythagoras, the radius of the smaller circle is ½ . The
proportion is thus:

( ) =1
2
1
π
√2 D) Let the radius of the big circle be say 1. Then the distance from the centre of
2
π ×1 2
this circle to the corner of the square is √ 2. Let the radius of the smaller circle be r . Then the
distance from the centre of the big circle to the corner can be expressed in terms of r as

1+r +r √ 2. So if √ 2=1+r (1+ √ 2), then r =

√ 2−1 . Thus the proportion of the shape
1+ √ 2
shaded is
2
πr
2
( √ 2−1 )
= 2 (since the square has area 4).
4 4 ( 1+ √ 2 )

4.

Since OP=1, by Pythagoras, OQ=√ 2. Since QR is 1, ¿=√ 2−1. Thus the entire diagonal of the

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 2 √ 2−1
square will be 2 √ 2−2, and hence the side length =2−√ 2.
√2
5.

Adding forms a suitable right-angled triangle, and since the large triangle is equilateral, ∠≝¿ 30 °.
Let r be the radius of the smaller circle.
Using basic trigonometry and the triangle ABE, we find the length AE=2. But we can also find this
length in terms of r . Clearly AE=1+r + DE . Using trigonometry again on the triangle ¿ (using the

r , thus rearranging, r = √ 3 .
2 2
known length DF ), we find that DE= r . Thus 2=1+ r+
√3 √3 √ 3+2
6.

Let the radius of the smaller semicircle be a and the radius of the larger semicircle b . Then a+ b=2 .
We also know that the length OX =b=a √ 2 (using the “√ 2 trick”) since OX is the diagonal of a
2
square with length a . Substituting the second equation into the first, a+ a √ 2=2, so a= ,
1+ √2
2 √2
and b= . The total area of the two semicircles is therefore
1+ √ 2

( ) ( )
2
π 2 2 π 2 √2 6π
+ = =6 π ( 3−2 √ 2 ).
2 1+ √ 2 2 1+ √ 2 3+2 √ 2

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 7. [UKMT model solution] Let the vertices of the square be A , B ,C , D and the centres of
the circle and two semicircles be P , Q, R as shown. The midpoint of QR is S. By
symmetry, P and S both lie on diagonal BD of square ABCD and the whole figure is
symmetrical about BD.
As P is distance 1 from both AD and DC , the length of DP is √ 2. As the circles and
semicircles are mutually tangent, PQR is an equilateral triangle of side 2, so the length of PS is √ 3.
As angles QBS and BSQ are 45 ° and 90 ° respectively, triangle SBQ is isosceles, so SB=SQ=1.
Hence the length of BD is √ 2+ √ 3+1. Now the length of the side of the square is BD ÷ √ 2 so the
perimeter of the square is 4 × ( BD ÷ √ 2 ), that is 2 √ 2× BD .
So the perimeter is 2 √ 2 ( √ 2+ √ 3+1 ), that is 4 +2 √ 6+2 √ 2 .

8. As always with these kinds of problems, the strategy is to add lines to form right-angled triangles,
then use Pythagoras to generate some equations.

Let x be the radius of the biggest circle. Then XY =x+ s, and we can form similar expressions for
XC and YC . Drawing a box around the triangle (formed by joining the centres of the circles) creates
a number of handy right-angled triangles.
We can see that AY =x−s and similarly, YD=x−t . Using Pythagoras on the triangle AXY , we
find that AX=2 √ xs . Similarly, DC=2 √ xt by using triangle YDC . This means that
XB=DC− AX=2 √ xt−2 √ xs .
We can find BC in two different ways. Since BC= AD= AY +YD=2 x−s−t , by using
2
Pythagoras on triangle XBC we can form the equation ( s+t )2−( 2 √ xt−2 √ xs ) =( 2 x−s−t )2.
Almost everything cancels out, leaving x=2 √ st .

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