Question

A regular hexagon is inscribed in a circle and another regular hexagon is circumscribed about the same circle. what is the ratio of the area of the larger hexagon to the area of the smaller hexagon? express your answer as a common fraction.

Answer 1

THE ANSWER WOULD BE 4/3

Answer 2

Let the sides of the interior hexagon be 2 cm long, then this hexagon is made up of 6 equilateral triangles of side = 2.

The area of this hexagon = 6 * 1 * sqrt3 = 6 sqrt3 ( as the triangle is made up of 2 60-30-90 triangles)

The exterior hexagon is made up of 6 equilateral triangles with altitude 2 and the area = 6 * 2 * (2 / sqrt3 ) = 24 / sqrt3

area exterior hex / interior hex = 24 / sqrt3 * 1 / 6sqrt3 = 24/18

= 4/3

Required ratio = 4/3 answer