geometry puzzle

[cellio]

You're being too productive; let me help:

World's hardest easy geometry problem, forwarded by a coworker, allegedly solvable with pure geometry (no trigonometry).

Comments

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

*g* I've printed them out for me & G. Thanks for the "help".

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of my physics teacher's approach to solving any problem:

Step 1: Draw a diagram.
Step 2: Cross it out and draw a BIGGER diagram.
...

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

I did this back in high school. Our math professor used to give out puzzles to solve. First student with a correct solution got a dollar. At the beginning of the semester they were fairly easy
"If 5 cats can catch 5 mice in 5 minutes, then how many cats are needed to catch 100 mice in 100 minutes?" The triangle one was towards the end of the semester, I spent several weeks at it. Hint: Extend line DE down to match AB.
-- Dagonell

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

I think I've solved for X, but I need to see if I can turn it into a proof since my solution involved scissors.

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

I have an issue with the title. Specifically, define "easy" and "hard". If "easy" means no trig, then aren't we including classic problems like trisecting an angle and squaring a circle? Especially if "hardest" includes "impossible"....%^)

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

Solve all the obvious angles, you'll be left with four (all in the upper sort of area). After applying one simple fact, you're left with four "a+b=something" formulae, four variables, and just solve.

(okay, I admit that I made an intelligent guess at that point rather than solving them, but I got a correct answer... and it should be solvable via algebra. I'm just lazy.)