7th Grade Challenging Math

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7-3)  Answer

          9 square inches

Solution:
For the ease of explanation, the red area is drawn in yellow and gray in the 2nd drawing. Connect all the center points of the circles and form a square. The area of the square is 4 quarters of the circle (which is the whole circle) plus the area in yellow. Therefore, the area in red is the same as the area of the square, which is:

3 x 3 = 9 square inches

                                            
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