Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.6 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:

Cyclic pentagon ABCDEABCD E has side lengths AB=BC=5AB = BC = 5, CD=DE=12CD = DE = 12, and AE=14AE = 14. Determine the radius of its circumcircle.

Solution

Solution:

Let CC' be the point on minor arc BCDBCD such that BC=12BC' = 12 and CD=5C'D = 5, and write AC=BD=CE=xAC' = BD = C'E = x, AD=yAD = y, and BD=zBD = z. Ptolemy applied to quadrilaterals ABCDABC'D, BCDEBC'DE, and ABDEABDE gives
x2=12y+52x2=5z+122yz=14x+512 \begin{aligned} & x^2 = 12y + 5^2 \\ & x^2 = 5z + 12^2 \\ & yz = 14x + 5 \cdot 12 \end{aligned}
Then
(x252)(x2122)=512yz=51214x+52122 \left(x^2 - 5^2\right)\left(x^2 - 12^2\right) = 5 \cdot 12 yz = 5 \cdot 12 \cdot 14x + 5^2 \cdot 12^2
from which x3169x51214=0x^3 - 169x - 5 \cdot 12 \cdot 14 = 0. Noting that x>13x > 13, the rational root theorem leads quickly to the root x=15x = 15. Then triangle BCDBCD has area 161411=811\sqrt{16 \cdot 1 \cdot 4 \cdot 11} = 8\sqrt{11} and circumradius R=512154811=2251188R = \frac{5 \cdot 12 \cdot 15}{4 \cdot 8 \sqrt{11}} = \frac{225 \sqrt{11}}{88}.

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