Puzzles
Square cross
A figure in the shape of a cross is made from five 1 x 1 squares, as shown. The cross is inscribed in a large square whose sides are parallel to the dashed square, formed by four vertices of the cross.
What is the area of the large outer square?
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The smaller diagonal square is made up of a 1×1 square and four 1×2 right-angled triangles. Therefore its area is 5.
The line FM, and therefore the line DN, has gradient 2. The line JM, and therefore the line ON, has gradient -½. ON passes through (1,2) and DN passes through (2,0). Therefore, DN has equation \(y=2x-4\) and ON has equation \(y=\frac{5}{2}-\frac{1}{2}x\). These lines intersect at \((\frac{13}{5},\frac{6}{5})\), these are the co-ordinates of N. By the same method, the co-ordinates of P are \((-\frac{8}{5},-\frac{1}{5})\).
By Pythagoras' Theorem, The diagonal of the larger square is \(\frac{7\sqrt{10}}{5}\) and so the area of the larger square is 9.8.
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