Grazing Areas

Date: 05/29/2001 at 13:28:53
From: Siddharth
Subject: Areas 

Three horses are tied to the corners of a triangular field. Each 
horse is tied with a rope of length 7m. The sides of the triangle are 
20m, 30m, and 40m. 

Find the area grazed by the three horses altogether.

Date: 05/29/2001 at 15:16:50
From: Doctor Rob
Subject: Re: Areas 

Thanks for writing to Ask Dr. Math, Siddharth.

Since 40 > 30 > 20 > 7 + 7, the three areas of grazing do not
overlap. Each is a sector of a circle with radius 7m. They can be
rearranged and joined together to make a semicircle of radius 7m.

I leave the reasons, the details, and the finishing of this to you.

For more on calculating grazing areas, see the Dr. Math FAQ:

  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.grazing.html   

- Doctor Rob, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/