November 17–November 23, 2009
Problem
Suppose that we have a parallelogram with area 1. Draw lines from each corner to a points 1/3 of the way along the opposite sides, as shown below. What is the area of the octagon in the middle?
Submit your solution to challenge[at]math.washington.edu.
Prize
The winner of this week's Challenge Problem receives a gift certificate for Baskin Robbins Ice Cream!
Rules
The Challenge Problem is posted every Tuesday (every other Tuesday over the summer). Solutions can be submitted until noon of the next Monday. Anyone may participate. The winner is drawn from the pool of correct solutions, with preference given to solutions that are better than others (for instance, an exact result over a floating point result, etc.); to undergraduate students over graduate students over faculty; and to people who have not won a prize.
For questions, comments, or suggestions for future challenge problems, or to be added/removed from the email list: please email challenge[at]math.washington.edu.
The challenge problem is maintained by Jonathan Cross and Mauricio Duarte.