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Slovenian Mathematical Olympiad, 2008

Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Slovenia

The sides of an equilateral triangle ABCABC measure 44 cm. Denote the orthogonal projections of the midpoint DD of the side ABAB onto the sides BCBC and ACAC by EE and FF. Find the area of the triangle DEFDEF.

Solutions — 3

Solution 1

We have ∣DA∣=∣DB∣=∣AB∣2=2|DA| = |DB| = \frac{|AB|}{2} = 2. The angles of the triangle DBEDBE measure 60∘60^\circ, 90∘90^\circ and 30∘30^\circ, so DBEDBE is one half of an equilateral triangle. This implies ∣BE∣=∣BD∣2=1|BE| = \frac{|BD|}{2} = 1. A similar argument for the triangle ADFADF shows that this triangle is congruent to the triangle BDEBDE. The lengths of the sides DEDE and DFDF are 32⋅∣BD∣=3\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \cdot |BD| = \sqrt{3}, so the area of each of the two triangles is 32\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}.

In the triangle ECFECF the lengths of the sides are ∣CF∣=∣CA∣−∣AF∣=3|CF| = |CA| - |AF| = 3 and ∣CE∣=∣CB∣−∣EB∣=3|CE| = |CB| - |EB| = 3, so this is an isosceles triangle with the angle of 60∘60^\circ at the apex. The triangle ECFECF is therefore equilateral. Its area is 32⋅34\frac{3^2 \cdot \sqrt{3}}{4}.

Figure 1

By subtracting the areas of triangles DBEDBE, ADFADF and ECFECF from the area of the triangle ABCABC we can obtain the area of the triangle DEFDEF:
42⋅34−32−32−32⋅34=334 \frac{4^2 \cdot \sqrt{3}}{4} - \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} - \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} - \frac{3^2 \cdot \sqrt{3}}{4} = \frac{3\sqrt{3}}{4}

Solution 2

We see that ∣DA∣=∣DB∣=∣AB∣2=2|DA| = |DB| = \frac{|AB|}{2} = 2. The angles of triangles AFDAFD and BEDBED are equal to 60∘60^\circ, 90∘90^\circ and 30∘30^\circ and these two triangles agree in the lengths of the hypotenuses, so they are congruent. This implies ∣DE∣=∣DF∣|DE| = |DF|, so DEFDEF is an isosceles triangle. Let GG be the intersection of segments CDCD and EFEF. Since ∠FDG=∠GDE=60∘\angle FDG = \angle GDE = 60^\circ, DGDG is the altitude in the triangle DEFDEF. Triangles DGEDGE and DGFDGF are congruent and their angles are 60∘60^\circ, 90∘90^\circ and 30∘30^\circ.

Triangles ADCADC, AFDAFD and DGFDGF are similar. From the first two we get ∣AD∣∣AC∣=∣AF∣∣AD∣\frac{|AD|}{|AC|} = \frac{|AF|}{|AD|}, so ∣AF∣=1|AF| = 1. Similarly, ∣AD∣∣DC∣=∣AF∣∣FD∣\frac{|AD|}{|DC|} = \frac{|AF|}{|FD|}, implies ∣FD∣=3|FD| = \sqrt{3}.

Since ADCADC and DGFDGF are similar, we have ∣AD∣∣AC∣=∣DG∣∣DF∣\frac{|AD|}{|AC|} = \frac{|DG|}{|DF|}, so ∣DG∣=32|DG| = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}. Likewise, ∣AD∣∣DC∣=∣DG∣∣GF∣\frac{|AD|}{|DC|} = \frac{|DG|}{|GF|} implies ∣GF∣=32|GF| = \frac{3}{2}.

The area of the triangle DEFDEF is equal to the sum of the areas of triangles FGDFGD and DGEDGE, so
∣DG∣⋅∣FG∣=334. |DG| \cdot |FG| = \frac{3\sqrt{3}}{4}.

Solution 3

Obviously, ∣DA∣=∣DB∣=∣AB∣2=2|DA| = |DB| = \frac{|AB|}{2} = 2. Triangles AFDAFD and BEDBED are congruent since they both have angles equal to 60∘60^\circ, 90∘90^\circ and 30∘30^\circ and the lengths of the two hypotenuses are also equal. So, ∣DE∣=∣DF∣=3|DE| = |DF| = \sqrt{3}. Let GG be the midpoint of the segment EFEF. Since EFEF is parallel to ABAB, right triangles FGDFGD and EGDEGD are congruent and ∠DFG=∠DEG=30∘\angle DFG = \angle DEG = 30^\circ. Thus,
pDEF=2pDFG=2⋅132⋅34=334. p_{DEF} = 2p_{DFG} = 2 \cdot \frac{1\sqrt{3}^2 \cdot \sqrt{3}}{4} = \frac{3\sqrt{3}}{4}.

Figure 2

Figure 3

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