Propstoyouforfindingatilewithdiamondinit!Thatmightbeworthalot!

Buttofigureoutthatworth,wellneedtheareaofsaiddiamond.Solets
getrightonit.Thedescriptionsaysthatthisisaregularoctagon,sothat
meansallthesidesandanglesarecongruent.Thisismagicbecausethat
cangiveusprettymucheverysinglemeasurementpossiblewithjustone
givenlengthmeasurementalone.Andgoodnews,weregivenonethe
perimeterofthisregularoctagonalplateis32in.

Now,therearemanywayswecansolvefortheareaoftheblueshading.
Wecouldtaketheentireoctagonsareaandsubtracttheeighttriangles
aroundthefigure.Wecoulddividetheinteriorofthefigureintomany
rectanglesandfindtheircombinedarea,subtractingthefourinterior
triangles.ButthemostefficientmethodIseeisthis.

Eachlittlediamondwingisshapedinatrianglewithasmallsectionat
thebasecutout.Soifwefindtheareaofthebigtriangleandsubtractthe
areaofthesmalltrianglefromeach,wegetjusttheareaofthewing.
Thenwecanaddupallthatareaandpresto!Theanswer.

Howdowefindtheareaofthesetriangles?Well,first,thesmaller
triangle,cutofffromthediamondwingshape,whichisrelativelysimple.

Thetrianglesmarkedinyellowarethe
trianglesofconsideration.Whatisthe
areaofthese?Well,sincetheyareright
trianglesbasedontherightangle
marking,weknowtakinghalfofthe
productofthetwolegswillproducethat
area.Butwhatarethelegs?Well...

Weknowthatoneinteriorangleofa
regularpolygonis(n2)180/n,fornbeing
thenumberofsides.Subbing8intothis
equationgivesus135degrees.Andthis
iswherethemagiccomesin.Iftheinteriorangleis135,wecansubtract
the90degreerightangleswhichareadjacenttoeachoftheacuteangles
withintheyellowtriangles.

13590=45

Seethemagicyet?Eachoftheacuteanglesintheyellowrighttriangles
are45!Theseareall454590triangles!Andsincethatmeansthatthese
trianglesarejusthalfasquare,wedontneedtosolveforthelegs
anymore!Knowingtheformulafortheareaofarhombus,wecanjusttake
thediagonal(sidelengthofhexagon),squareit,anddividebytwo.Lets
dothat:

s=P/8(sincethereare8sidesonahexagon)
s=32/8=4
A=(s^2)/2=(4^2)/2=8

Sotheareaofthesmallertriangleis8.Rememberthatnumber,wellbe
backforitlater.

Nowforthebiggertriangle,andthisisrelativelycomplicated.

Markedingreenarethetrianglesin
question.Whatistheareaofthat?Well,
letssee.

Weregoingtoreferbacktothetriangle
areaformula:A=bh/2.Weknowthatb
isthesidelengthofthehexagon,already
definedtobe4,buttheheight?Only
trigonometrycanfindthatlength,the
apothem.

Wealreadyknowoneinteriorangletobe135degrees.Thebaseangleof
thegreentriangle(whichwellneedforthisoperation)isexactlyhalfof
that.Therefore,thebaseanglesare135/2,or67.5degrees.Withthatin
mind...

Imaginetheapothemrunningdownthecenterofthetriangle.Itsplitsitin
half,doesntit?Andatthebottom,itmakesarightanglewiththebase.
Thatmeansthatonehalfofthetriangleinquestionisarighttriangle,
whichwecantotallyusetrigonometrytosolve!Weknowonesideofthis
righttriangle,thatbeinghalfthehexagonsside,whichis2.Thisis
adjacenttothebaseangle.Thesidewewanttoknowistheapothem,the
opposite.Whattrigonometricratiodealswithoppositeandadjacent?

tan(67.5)/1=a/2

Withtheratiosetup,wethensolvebycrossmultiplication:

1a=tan(67.5)*2=4.828427125...

Thatsadecimalthatextendsforever.Forthepurposesofsimplicityand
conciseness,wellroundtothenearesthundredth4.83.

Withtheapothem(4.83)andtheside(4)inhand,wecannowfindthe
areaofthistriangle.Letsgo:

A=bh/2=(4)(4.8)/2
A=4.83*2=9.66

Ah,so9.66istheareaofthegreentriangle.Good.

Nowwehavetheareasofallthetrianglesweneedtocalculatethearea
ofthediamondshapedwing.Simplytakingthelargerandsubtracting
fromitthesmaller,weget:

9.668=1.66

Thatstheareaofonediamondwing!Butdontforget,therearefourof
them:

1.6*4=6.64

Sonowwehaveit.Theareaofthediamond,ortheblueshading,is
6.64
in^2
(dontforgetthoseunits!).

DONE

(sidenote:Ifyoutooktheapothemasanexactnumber,youget
6.627416998...butouransweriscloseenough)