September 27, 2007

Find the area of that portion of the $xy$-plane which is enclosed by the curve with equation
|2x-1|+|2x+1|+\frac{4|y|}{\sqrt{3}}=4.


Solution. 
The curve is clearly symmetric with respect to both the $x$-axis and the $y$-axis. Our only weapon from here is to try to perhaps write $y$ in terms of $x$.

For $x<-1/2$, then $|2x-1|=-(2x-1)=1-2x$, $|2x+1|=-(2x+1)$, and we find that $y=\pm\sqrt{3}(x+1)$. These lines intersect at $x=-1$.

For $-1/2<x<1/2$, we have $|2x-1|=1-2x$, $|2x+1|=2x+1$, and thus $y=\pm\sqrt{3}/2$.

For $x>1/2$, we have $|2x-1|=2x-1$, $|2x+1|=2x+1$, and thus $y=\pm\sqrt{3}(1-x)$. These two lines intersect at $x=1$.

This gives us a regular hexagon of sidelength 1 with vertices $(\pm 1/2, \sqrt{3}/2)$, $(\pm 1/2, -\sqrt{3}/2)$, and $(\pm 1,0)$. The enclosed area -- that of six equilateral triangles of unit edge length is $(6)(1/2)(1)(1)(\sqrt{3}/2)=3\sqrt{3}/2$.