2000 CEMC Pascal Problems/Problem 7
Problem
Three squares with the same centre and corresponding parallel sides are drawn. The distance between the sides of successive squares is and the side length of the largest square is
, as shown. What is the perimeter of the smallest square?
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Solution
To find the perimeter of the square, we can find the side length of the small square, and then multiply it by .
Let be the side length of the small square. We also know that distance between the sides of successive squares is
.
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We can see that the side length of the full square is then , allowing us to set up an equation:
Multiplying this by to get the perimeter, we get
.
~anabel.disher