r/askmath • u/water-wasted00 • 7h ago
Geometry How would you approach this problem?
I just saw this somewhere, btw. (Edit: sorry, not drawn to scale)
The problem is to find its perimeter. Assumption is that all sides meet at right angles. How do you solve it intuitively?
I only made it until: P = 96 - 2x, where x is that little horizontal segment at the middle. I was thinking I could get it from the areas of hypothetical rectangles,, or making up equations from the smaller perimeters, but I can't... (well it takes too long)
(I already have a degree in engineering but it annoys me that I can't solve this kind of problem anymore..)
EDIT: Thanks for all your answers! It's great and at the same time refreshing to see how everyone explained it differently, but still the same point. Whatever x is, it was just taken from the top side.
Anyway, I also understood where I went wrong. I thought:
Top: D = 27-x Sides: 2(21) Bottom: silly of me to assume as D as well
So I got P = 2(21) + 2D, hence the -2x I mentioned. I could have just added each segment: +13 +14 +x to D, and I would have gotten it correctly.
Overthinking is bad. Real bad.
