MHB What is the solution to this trigonometric challenge?

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The challenge involves evaluating the expression $\dfrac{\sin^2 \dfrac{\pi}{7}}{\sin^4 \dfrac{2\pi}{7}}+\dfrac{\sin^2 \dfrac{2\pi}{7}}{\sin^4 \dfrac{3\pi}{7}}+\dfrac{\sin^2 \dfrac{3\pi}{7}}{\sin^4 \dfrac{\pi}{7}}$ analytically. Participants discuss various trigonometric identities and properties of sine functions to simplify the expression. The use of symmetry in sine values and relationships between angles is emphasized to facilitate calculations. Some suggest leveraging known values or derived formulas for sine at specific angles. Ultimately, the goal is to arrive at a simplified numerical result without computational tools.
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Evaluate $\dfrac{\sin^2 \dfrac{\pi}{7}}{\sin^4 \dfrac{2\pi}{7}}+\dfrac{\sin^2 \dfrac{2\pi}{7}}{\sin^4 \dfrac{3\pi}{7}}+\dfrac{\sin^2 \dfrac{3\pi}{7}}{\sin^4 \dfrac{\pi}{7}}$ without the help of a calculator.
 
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Let $s_k=\sin \dfrac{k\pi}{7}$ and $c_k=\cos \dfrac{k\pi}{7}$.

We have

$\dfrac{\sin^2 x}{\sin^4 x}=\dfrac{1}{16\sin^2 x \cos^4 x}=\dfrac{1}{16\sin^2 x \cos^2 x}+\dfrac{1}{16\cos^4 x}=\dfrac{1}{16\sin^2 x}+\dfrac{1}{16\cos^2 x}+\dfrac{1}{16\cos^4 x}$

Therefore we want to find $\displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^3 \dfrac{s_k^2}{s_{2k}^4}=\sum_{k=1}^3 \dfrac{1}{16s_k^2}+\sum_{k=1}^3 \dfrac{1}{16c_k^2}+\sum_{k=1}^3 \dfrac{1}{16c_k^4}$

$\sin 7x=\sin x(64\sin^6 x-112\sin^4 x+56\sin^2 x-7)$

Let the polynomial $64x^6-112x^4+56x^2-7$ has roots $\pm s_1,\,\pm s_2,\,\pm s_3$ so that the polynomial $P_1(x)=64x^3-112x^2+56x-7$ has roots $s_1^2,\,s_2^2,\,s_3^2$ and the polynomial $Q_1(x)=7x^3-56x^2+112x-64$ has roots $s_1^{-2},\,s_2^{-2},\,s_3^{-2}$.

$\displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^3 \dfrac{1}{s_k^2}=s_1^{-2}+s_2^{-2}+s_3^{-2}=\dfrac{56}{7}=8$

And

$P_2(x)=-P_1(1-x)=64x^3-80x^2+24x-1$ has roots $c_1^2,\,c_2^2,\,c_3^2$ and the polynomial $Q_2(x)=x^3-24x^2+80x-64$ has roots $c_1^{-2},\,c_2^{-2},\,c_3^{-2}$.

$\displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^3 \dfrac{1}{c_k^2}=c_1^{-2}+c_2^{-2}+c_3^{-2}=24$

$\displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^3 \dfrac{1}{c_k^4}=c_1^{-4}+c_2^{-4}+c_3^{-4}=24^2-2\times 80=416$

$\therefore \displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^3 \dfrac{s_k^2}{s_{2k}^4}=\dfrac{8}{16}+ \dfrac{24}{16}+\dfrac{416}{16}=28.$
 
Here is a little puzzle from the book 100 Geometric Games by Pierre Berloquin. The side of a small square is one meter long and the side of a larger square one and a half meters long. One vertex of the large square is at the center of the small square. The side of the large square cuts two sides of the small square into one- third parts and two-thirds parts. What is the area where the squares overlap?

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