Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.6 AIME Find the answer Canada

The five sides of a regular pentagon are all equal in length. Also, all interior angles of a regular pentagon have the same measure. In the diagram, PQRSTPQRST is a regular pentagon and PUT\triangle PUT is equilateral.

The measure of obtuse QUS\angle QUS is

Pick one

Solution

Join QUQU and SUSU.

Since PUT\triangle PUT is equilateral, then PU=UT=TPPU=UT=TP.

Since pentagon PQRSTPQRST is regular, then QP=PT=TSQP = PT = TS.

Thus, PU=QPPU = QP and UT=TSUT = TS, which means that QPU\triangle QPU and STU\triangle STU are isosceles.

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Each interior angle in a regular pentagon measures 108108^\circ.

Since UPT=60\angle UPT = 60^\circ, then QPU=QPTUPT=10860=48\angle QPU = \angle QPT - \angle UPT = 108^\circ - 60^\circ = 48^\circ.

Since QPU\triangle QPU is isosceles with QP=PUQP = PU, then PQU=PUQ\angle PQU = \angle PUQ.

Thus, PUQ=12(180QPU)=12(18048)=66\angle PUQ = \frac{1}{2}(180^\circ - \angle QPU) = \frac{1}{2}(180^\circ - 48^\circ) = 66^\circ.

By symmetry, TUS=66\angle TUS = 66^\circ

Finally, QUS=360PUQPUTTUS=360666066=168\angle QUS = 360^\circ - \angle PUQ - \angle PUT - \angle TUS = 360^\circ - 66^\circ - 60^\circ - 66^\circ = 168^\circ

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Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.