AMC10 2006 10B, Problem 15

Rhombus $ABCD$ is similar to rhombus $BFDE$. The area of rhombus $ABCD$ is $24$ and $\angle BAD = 60^\circ$. What is the area of rhombus $BFDE$? [asy] defaultpen(linewidth(0.7)+fontsize(10)); size(120); pair A=origin, B=(2,0), C=(3, sqrt(3)), D=(1, sqrt(3)), E=(1, 1/sqrt(3)), F=(2, 2/sqrt(3)); pair point=(3/2, sqrt(3)/2); draw(B--C--D--A--B--F--D--E--B); label("$A$", A, dir(point--A)); label("$B$", B, dir(point--B)); label("$C$", C, dir(point--C)); label("$D$", D, dir(point--D)); label("$E$", E, dir(point--E)); label("$F$", F, dir(point--F)); [/asy]

Solution: Using the property that opposite angles are equal in a rhombus, $\angle DAB = \angle DCB = 60 ^\circ$ and $\angle ADC = \angle ABC = 120 ^\circ$. It is easy to see that rhombus $ABCD$ is made up of equilateral triangles $DAB$ and $DCB$. Let the lengths of the sides of rhombus $ABCD$ be $s$. The longer diagonal of rhombus $BFDE$ is $BD$. Since $BD$ is a side of an equilateral triangle with a side length of $s$, $BD = s$. The longer diagonal of rhombus $ABCD$ is $AC$. Since $AC$ is twice the length of an altitude of of an equilateral triangle with a side length of $s$, $AC = 2 \cdot \frac{s\sqrt{3}}{2} = s\sqrt{3}$. The ratio of the longer diagonal of rhombus $BFDE$ to rhombus $ABCD$ is $\frac{s}{s\sqrt{3}} = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}$. Therefore, the ratio of the area of rhombus $BFDE$ to rhombus $ABCD$ is $\left( \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3} \right) ^2 = \frac{1}{3}$. Let $x$ be the area of rhombus $BFDE$. Then $\frac{x}{24} = \frac{1}{3}$, so $x = \fbox{8}$.

Answer: 8