March 11–March 17, 2008

Problem

A right triangle ABC with side lengths a,b,c (with c2 = a2 + b2) determines a hexagon whose vertices are the "outside" corners of the squares on the sides AB, BC and CA. Find the area of the hexagon in terms of a, b, and c.

diagram

Solution

here.

List of solvers

Dan Siddoway, Kate Smith, Tyler Cooper Todd Freed (undergrad), Dustin Moody, Gary Raymond, Aneesh Shankar, Jacob Lewis (graduate), Marina Meila (faculty), Lloyd Sakazaki, Mike Goodman, Eric Brodeur (outside).

Aneesh Shankar Hariharan wins the prize this week!