Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it New Zealand

Problem:
Let ABCDABCD be a convex quadrilateral such that AB+BC=2021AB + BC = 2021 and AD=CDAD = CD. We are also given that
ABC=CDA=90\angle ABC = \angle CDA = 90^{\circ}
Determine the length of the diagonal BDBD.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Solution:
Since AD=DCAD = DC and ADC=90\angle ADC = 90^{\circ}, we can fit four copies of quadrilateral ABCDABCD around vertex DD as shown in the diagram.

Figure 1

The outer shape is a quadrilateral because DAB+BCD=180\angle DAB + \angle BCD = 180^{\circ}. Moreover it is a rectangle because ABC=90\angle ABC = 90^{\circ}. In fact it is a square with side-length 20212021 because of rotational symmetry and AB+BC=2021AB + BC = 2021. Also DD is the centre of the square because it is the centre of the rotational symmetry. So BDBD is the distance from a vertex to the centre of the square, which is half the length of the diagonal of the square. Thus
BD=12(20212)=20212.BD = \frac{1}{2}\left(2021\sqrt{2}\right) = \frac{2021}{\sqrt{2}}.

Solution 2

Solution:
First let x=AD=DCx = AD = DC and a=BDa = BD and y=ABy = AB and z=BCz = BC. Now initially we can apply Pythagoras in triangles CDACDA and ABCABC to get x2+x2=AC2x^{2} + x^{2} = AC^{2} and y2+z2=AC2y^{2} + z^{2} = AC^{2} respectively. Putting this together gives us
x2=y2+z22.x^{2} = \frac{y^{2} + z^{2}}{2}.
Now note that the opposite angles ABC\angle ABC and CDA\angle CDA (in quad ABCDABCD) are supplementary. Therefore ABCDABCD is a cyclic quadrilateral. Equal chords subtend equal arcs (and chords AD=DCAD = DC are equal) so ABD=DBC\angle ABD = \angle DBC. Furthermore, since ABC\angle ABC is a right angle, this means that ABD=DBC=45\angle ABD = \angle DBC = 45^{\circ}.

For any three points PP, QQ and RR, let PQR|PQR| denote the area of triangle PQRPQR. Now consider the total area of quadrilateral ABCDABCD calculated in two ways:
ABC+CDA=ABD+DBC.|ABC| + |CDA| = |ABD| + |DBC|.
We calculate the areas of the right-angled triangles using the =bh2\triangle = \frac{b h}{2} formula, and we calculate the area of the 4545^{\circ}-angled triangles using the =12absinC\triangle = \frac{1}{2} ab\sin C formula.
yz2+x22=12aysin(45)+12azsin(45)\frac{yz}{2} + \frac{x^{2}}{2} = \frac{1}{2} ay\sin (45^{\circ}) + \frac{1}{2} az\sin (45^{\circ})
At this point we can substitute x2=12(y2+z2)x^{2} = \frac{1}{2} (y^{2} + z^{2}) into this equation, and rearrange:
yz2+x22=aysin(45)2+azsin(45)2\frac{yz}{2} + \frac{x^{2}}{2} = \frac{ay\sin(45^{\circ})}{2} + \frac{az\sin(45^{\circ})}{2}
yz2+y2+z24=ay22+az22\frac{yz}{2} + \frac{y^{2} + z^{2}}{4} = \frac{ay}{2\sqrt{2}} + \frac{az}{2\sqrt{2}}
2yz+y2+z2=ay+az222yz + y^{2} + z^{2} = \frac{ay + az}{2\sqrt{2}}
(y+z)24=a(y+z)22\frac{(y + z)^{2}}{4} = \frac{a(y + z)}{2\sqrt{2}}
y+z2=a.\frac{y + z}{\sqrt{2}} = a.
Finally since y+z=2021y + z = 2021 this gives our final answer of BD=a=20212BD = a = \frac{2021}{\sqrt{2}}.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.