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The small triangle, with legs of length 12 and 16, is just four times as big as a 3-4-5 triangle. So its hypotenuse is 20. The triangle at the top is four times as big as a 5-12-13 triangle, so the missing side (BC) is 48. Now we can just add the areas of the two triangles, or you can just use units digits: the triangle with sides 20 and 48 will have an area ending in zero, and the triangle at the bottom has an area of (12)(16)/2 = 6*16, which ends in 6, so the answer will end in 6, and must be D.
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Bunuel

What is the area of quadrilateral ABCD shown?

A. 480
B. 525
C. 550
D. 576
E. 1152


AC = (12^2 + 16^2)^1/2 = 20

BC = (52^2 - 20^2)^1/2 = 48

area of ABCD = 16*12/2 + 20*48/2 = 96 + 480 = 576

Answer D
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Abhishek009

So, \(BC = \sqrt{52^2 - 20^2}=48\)

Is there a quick way to calculate this equation?
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Abhishek009

So, \(BC = \sqrt{52^2 - 20^2}=48\)

Is there a quick way to calculate this equation?
this is one way ( not sure if its the quickest )

\(\sqrt{52^2 - 20^2}\)
=> \(\sqrt{(52+20)(52-20)}\)
=> \(\sqrt{72*32}\)

taking the nearest perfect squares, \(\sqrt{72}=8\) and \(\sqrt{32}=6\)

so approximately, \(\sqrt{72*32}= 8*6 = 48\)
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Traingle ADC is a right angled triangled which is right angled at B
The sides of the triangle forms pythogorean triplets.

AD = 12, DC = 16, therefore AC = 20

Traingle ABC is a right angled triangled which is right angled at C
The sides of the triangle forms pythogorean triplets.

AC = 20, AB = 52, therefore BC = 48

Area ABCD = Area ABC + Area ADC
= (1/2)*20*48 + (1/2)*12*16
= 480 + 96
= 576
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Bunuel

What is the area of quadrilateral ABCD shown?

A. 480
B. 525
C. 550
D. 576
E. 1152



GMAT is all about making use of opportunities that are thrown at us in term of choices, wordings, number properties etc.

Here, 12-16 as two legs of right angled triangle should tell you that you are looking at 3-4-5 triangle, so hypotenuse = 20.
Now, the area of 12-16-20 triangle is 12*16*1/2=96.

The choices have all integer values, so surely all sides of bigger triangle are integers, say a, 20, 52. The area = 20*a*1/2 =10a, where a is an integer.
The units digit of 10a will be 0, so units digit of 96+10a will be 6.
Only D fits in.

Note :- We knew the method but looking at 20 being one of the side, we avoided calculations and got to our answer.
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Bunuel

What is the area of quadrilateral ABCD shown?

A. 480
B. 525
C. 550
D. 576
E. 1152


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Attachment:
2020-10-27_12-24-45.png

To visualize smaller triangle as 3-4-5 is easy but it's little difficult for the bigger one.

I just took 4 out of all the sides and then left with 3-4-5 <-- calculated for smaller triangle, so area - 1/2*3*4 = 6

Bigger triangle = 5-__-13 = 5-12- 13 and area = 1/2 5*12 = 30

Total area = (30+6) *16 = 576 (since we have taken 4 out of all sides we now need to bring it back)
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ceanma

\sqrt{52^2 - 20^2}=

Is there a quick way to calculate this equation?

With right triangles and numbers this big, the triangles are usually going to be multiples of 3-4-5 or 5-12-13 triangles, so that's the first thing I'd look for. This triangle is just four times bigger than the 5-12-13 triangle, so the missing side is 48. If you did arrive at that square root though, and wanted to compute its value, you can use the difference of squares:

\(\\
\sqrt{52^2 - 20^2} = \sqrt{(52+20)(52-20)} = \sqrt{(72)(32)} = \sqrt{(2)(36)(32)} = \sqrt{(64)(36)} = (8)(6) = 48\\
\)

With answer choices this close together, I wouldn't recommend estimating the roots (which was done in a post above, and which would be fine if the answers were more spread out).
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Bunuel

What is the area of quadrilateral ABCD shown?

A. 480
B. 525
C. 550
D. 576
E. 1152


Solution:

We see that the area of quadrilateral ABCD is the sum of the areas of right triangles ADC and ABC. Triangle ADC is a 3-4-5 right triangle with AC = 5(4) = 20 (notice that 12 = 3(4) and 16 = 4(4)). Since AC = 30, triangle ABC is a 5-12-13 right triangle with BC = 12(4) = 48 (notice that 20 = 5(4) and 52 = 13(4)). Therefore, the area of triangle ADC is ½ x 12 x 16 = 96, and the area of triangle ABC is ½ x 20 x 48 = 480. So, the area of quadrilateral ABCD is 96 + 480 = 576.

Answer: D
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