Geometry

Can You Solve This In 5 Seconds?

A very simple problem that you should know 💙

M and N are the midpoints

The area of a triangle is 1/2(b)(h), where b is the base and h is the height. What that means is a triangle can have the same area with many different shapes.

This simple but insightful puzzle can be solved in under 5 seconds if only you know well enough about triangles ⏳

Here’s a hint: move them around and M and N are the midpoints…

I recommend you pause the article, grab your pen and paper, and give this a go. When you are ready, keep reading for the solution! ✒️

Solution

In case you missed it, M and N are the midpoints of the size of the rectangle. Let’s jump into the heart of the solution with this diagram.

All the blue triangles are now above the line MN. We can see that the triangles is half the area of the rectangle LKMN.

Rectangle LKMN is half of the whole rectangle.

And half of half is just (1/2)(1/2) = 1/4 🏆