Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:

Triangle ABCA B C is given with AB=13A B = 13, BC=14B C = 14, CA=15C A = 15. Let EE and FF be the feet of the altitudes from BB and CC, respectively. Let GG be the foot of the altitude from AA in triangle AFEA F E. Find AGA G.

Solution

Solution:

By Heron's formula we have [ABC]=21876=84[A B C] = \sqrt{21 \cdot 8 \cdot 7 \cdot 6} = 84.

Let DD be the foot of the altitude from AA to BCB C; then AD=28414=12A D = 2 \cdot \frac{84}{14} = 12.

Notice that because BFC=BEC\angle B F C = \angle B E C, BFECB F E C is cyclic, so AFE=90EFC=90EBC=C\angle A F E = 90^\circ - \angle E F C = 90^\circ - \angle E B C = \angle C.

Therefore, we have AEFABC\triangle A E F \sim \triangle A B C, so AGAD=AEAB\frac{A G}{A D} = \frac{A E}{A B}.

12(BE)(AC)=84BE=565\frac{1}{2} (B E)(A C) = 84 \Longrightarrow B E = \frac{56}{5}

AE=132(565)2=65256252=335A E = \sqrt{13^2 - \left(\frac{56}{5}\right)^2} = \sqrt{\frac{65^2 - 56^2}{5^2}} = \frac{33}{5}.

Then AG=ADAEAB=1233/513=39665A G = A D \cdot \frac{A E}{A B} = 12 \cdot \frac{33 / 5}{13} = \frac{396}{65}.

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