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Vyshak
Area of square = 20^2 = 400

Area of top triangle enclosed by length a = 0.5 * a^2

Area of the bottom triangle enclosed by length b = 0.5 * b^2

Area of shaded region = 400 - 0.5(a^2 + b^2)

St1: (a + b)^2 = 49 --> a^2 + b^2 + 2ab = 49 --> Not sufficient as we do not know the value of 2ab

St2: Clearly sufficient.

Answer: B

While I understood the logic; I still have a doubt with the area of the top and bottom triangle. From the figure, how can we interpret that the base and height of the dotted line is a and a? Or what does that a and b represent?
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Vyshak
Area of square = 20^2 = 400

Area of top triangle enclosed by length a = 0.5 * a^2

Area of the bottom triangle enclosed by length b = 0.5 * b^2

Area of shaded region = 400 - 0.5(a^2 + b^2)

St1: (a + b)^2 = 49 --> a^2 + b^2 + 2ab = 49 --> Not sufficient as we do not know the value of 2ab

St2: Clearly sufficient.

Answer: B

While I understood the logic; I still have a doubt with the area of the top and bottom triangle. From the figure, how can we interpret that the base and height of the dotted line is a and a? Or what does that a and b represent?
a and b represent the length or the distance from the corner of the square. As we can see from the figure, the base and height of the top triangle have distance of 'a' units from the corner of the square and the base and height of bottom triangle has distance of 'b' units from the corner of the square.
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Vyshak
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Vyshak
Area of square = 20^2 = 400

Area of top triangle enclosed by length a = 0.5 * a^2

Area of the bottom triangle enclosed by length b = 0.5 * b^2

Area of shaded region = 400 - 0.5(a^2 + b^2)

St1: (a + b)^2 = 49 --> a^2 + b^2 + 2ab = 49 --> Not sufficient as we do not know the value of 2ab

St2: Clearly sufficient.

Answer: B

While I understood the logic; I still have a doubt with the area of the top and bottom triangle. From the figure, how can we interpret that the base and height of the dotted line is a and a? Or what does that a and b represent?
a and b represent the length or the distance from the corner of the square. As we can see from the figure, the base and height of the top triangle have distance of 'a' units from the corner of the square and the base and height of bottom triangle has distance of 'b' units from the corner of the square.

Even i have the same doubt. The question states that "If a square with 20 as one side’s length and decreases to a and b". Does that not mean that the base and height of the triangles should be 20-a ( or 20-b in case of the second triangle)??

(The side's length decreases to 'a', meaning the remaining length will be 20-a)

Although i did get the right answer using this approach but it was way too lengthy.
Please suggest what am i not understanding. Thanks a lot for your help.
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Hi MeghaP,

It depends on how you interpret the length. You can assume the length to be 'a' or '20 - a'. Either way you will arrive at the same answer. The calculation will be intensive if you consider '20 - a'. It is a straightforward question. Attached figure will resolve your doubts.
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IMG_20160328_194027.jpg
IMG_20160328_194027.jpg [ 1.84 MiB | Viewed 2487 times ]

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