Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Italy

Problem:

Let ABCDABCD be a convex quadrilateral, FF a point on segment CDCD, EE the point of intersection of ACAC with BFBF. It is known that AB=FCAB = FC, AE=14AE = 14, BE=102BE = 10\sqrt{2}, BAC^=BFD^\widehat{BAC} = \widehat{BFD}, BEA^=45\widehat{BEA} = 45^\circ. What is the length of segment EFEF?

Solution

Solution:

The answer is 66. Extend segment BFBF beyond FF, and on this extension consider the point KK, such that FK=14FK = 14. The angle CFK^\widehat{CFK} is equal to the angle DFB^\widehat{DFB}, since they are vertical angles by construction, so triangles ABEABE and FCKFCK are similar and, in particular, congruent, since they have two pairs of equal sides (AB=CFAB = CF and AE=FK=14AE = FK = 14) and the included angle equal (BAE^=DFB^=CFK^\widehat{BAE} = \widehat{DFB} = \widehat{CFK}). Since the two triangles are congruent, we have that BE=CK=102BE = CK = 10\sqrt{2}, being corresponding sides, and likewise AEB^=FKC^=45\widehat{AEB} = \widehat{FKC} = 45^\circ being corresponding angles. We also have KEC^=AEB^=45\widehat{KEC} = \widehat{AEB} = 45^\circ since they are vertical angles, so triangle ECKECK is isosceles with two angles of 4545^\circ, and thus in particular it is right-angled at CC. We can therefore compute the length of its hypotenuse: EK=KC2=1022=20EK = KC \cdot \sqrt{2} = 10\sqrt{2} \cdot \sqrt{2} = 20. By subtraction we then obtain EF=EKFK=2014=6EF = EK - FK = 20 - 14 = 6.

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