About cookies on this site Our websites require some cookies to function properly (required). In addition, other cookies may be used with your consent to analyze site usage, improve the user experience and for advertising. For more information, please review your options. By visiting our website, you agree to our processing of information as described in IBM’sprivacy statement. To provide a smooth navigation, your cookie preferences will be shared across the IBM web domains listed here.
October 2010
<<September October November>>
There are 120 (five factorial) ways for the order of the edges and two ways to place the right angles (either adjacent or not).
Once we define the order and place the right angles, we can compute the area using the Pythagorean theorem and Heron's formula.
Enumerating over several possible 5-tuples and reviewing all these possibilities for the lake, we can verify that there is only one possible area for a convex pentagon.
The smallest solution we found is 2=4=12-6-5 (where "=" is a right angle) with an area of ~33.99.
The smallest lake we know of (thanks, John T. Robinson ) that has an integer for its area is 2=5=20-6-13 (or 6=5=20-2-13) which has an area of 70.
The 22=19=81-37-25 lake has a nice round area: 1000.
If you have any problems you think we might enjoy, please send them in. All replies should be sent to: ponder@il.ibm.com