
The three rectangles are congruent. What fraction of the design is shaded?

Consider the diagram labelled as above. Triangles and share the base , and as is parallel to , the points and have the same perpendicular distance to , so triangles and have the same area.
Since the rectangles are congruent, line segments and have the same length, so so do and . Therefore is parallel to . Since also and have the same length then triangles and are congruent.
The white regions therefore have the same area as triangle , which comprises one half of one of the rectangles and so one sixth of the design.