If I had a math teacher who would have shown me solutions like this instead of just throwing formulas at me, I might understand a lot more about the world. As it is, I’m sure I tend to look around the world for formulas instead of solutions.

Square Deal: Point A is the center of one square and the vertex of another. The side of each square is 4 inches. What is the area of the shaded region?

Square Deal Solution: No matter the orientation of the second square, adding three contiguous squares as shown will divide the first square into four equal regions. Each region is then one-fourth of the square’s total area, or 4 square inches.