MathDB

Source: 2017 Canadian Open Math Challenge, Problem A2 —-- An equilateral triangle has sides of length

4

cm. At each vertex, a circle with radius

2

cm is drawn, as shown in the figure below. The total area of the shaded regions of the three circles is

a\cdot \pi \text{cm}^2

. Determine

a

.
[asy] size(2.5cm); draw(circle((0,2sqrt(3)/3),1)); draw(circle((1,-sqrt(3)/3),1)); draw(circle((-1,-sqrt(3)/3),1)); draw((0,2sqrt(3)/3) -- arc((0,2sqrt(3)/3), 1, 240, 300) -- cycle); fill(((0,2sqrt(3)/3) -- arc((0,2sqrt(3)/3), 1, 240, 300) -- cycle),mediumgray); draw((1,-sqrt(3)/3) -- arc((1,-sqrt(3)/3), 1, 180, 120) -- cycle); fill(((1,-sqrt(3)/3) -- arc((1,-sqrt(3)/3), 1, 180, 120) -- cycle),mediumgray); draw((-1,-sqrt(3)/3) -- arc((-1,-sqrt(3)/3), 1, 0, 60) -- cycle); fill(((-1,-sqrt(3)/3) -- arc((-1,-sqrt(3)/3), 1, 0, 60) -- cycle),mediumgray); [/asy]

A2

Problems(1)