Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.6 AIME Find the answer Italy

Problem:

Let ABCDABCD be a rectangle and let M,NM, N be interior points of sides ABAB and BCBC, respectively. Suppose that MC=CDMC = CD, MD=MNMD = MN, and that the points C,D,M,NC, D, M, N belong to the same circle.

What is the value of the ratio AB/BCAB / BC?

Pick one

Solution

Solution:

The answer is (B). Since the quadrilateral CDMNCDMN is cyclic, we know that the angle CDM\angle CDM is equal to the supplement of the angle MNC\angle MNC, that is, to the angle MNB\angle MNB. On the other hand, the angles CDM\angle CDM and AMD\angle AMD are equal, being alternate interior angles formed by the parallels ABAB and CDCD with the transversal DMDM. We therefore deduce that AMD=MNB\angle AMD = \angle MNB.

The right triangles ADMADM and BMNBMN thus have an equal acute angle and, by hypothesis, equal hypotenuses (DM=MN)(DM = MN), and are therefore congruent. In particular, AD=MBAD = MB holds, and since AD=BCAD = BC, the triangle BCMBCM is isosceles with respect to the base CMCM (besides being right-angled at BB), so that the ratio between its hypotenuse and one of its legs is 2\sqrt{2}. It then holds that AB/BC=CD/BC=CM/BC=2AB / BC = CD / BC = CM / BC = \sqrt{2}.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.