Distance in Regular Hexagon

CAT 2021 Slot 2 · QA · Hard · Geometry

Suppose the length of each side of a regular hexagon ABCDEF is 2 cm. If T is the midpoint of CD, then the length of AT, in cm, is

  1. A.

    15\sqrt{15}

  2. B.

    13\sqrt{13}

  3. C.

    12\sqrt{12}

  4. D.

    14\sqrt{14}

Answer

B

Explanation

Place the regular hexagon on the coordinate plane or use vectors/geometry. Let AA be at the origin (0,0)(0, 0). The side length is a=2a = 2. Interior angle of a regular hexagon is 120120^\circ.

Vector ABAB is along xx-axis: B=(2,0)B = (2, 0). Vector BCBC makes 6060^\circ with positive xx-axis: C=(2+2cos60,2sin60)=(3,3)C = (2 + 2\cos 60^\circ, 2\sin 60^\circ) = (3, \sqrt{3}). Vector CDCD makes 120120^\circ with positive xx-axis: D=(3+2cos120,3+2sin120)=(2,23)D = (3 + 2\cos 120^\circ, \sqrt{3} + 2\sin 120^\circ) = (2, 2\sqrt{3}).

TT is the midpoint of CDCD: T=(3+22,3+232)=(52,332)T = \left(\frac{3+2}{2}, \frac{\sqrt{3}+2\sqrt{3}}{2}\right) = \left(\frac{5}{2}, \frac{3\sqrt{3}}{2}\right)

Length ATAT: AT2=(52)2+(332)2=254+274=524=13AT^2 = \left(\frac{5}{2}\right)^2 + \left(\frac{3\sqrt{3}}{2}\right)^2 = \frac{25}{4} + \frac{27}{4} = \frac{52}{4} = 13 AT=13 cmAT = \sqrt{13}\text{ cm}.

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