GeometryDifficulty 5.8AIME, harderProve itUnited States
Problem: Let △ABC be a triangle with AB=7, BC=1, and CA=43. The angle trisectors of C intersect AB at D and E, and lines AC and BC intersect the circumcircle of △CDE again at X and Y, respectively. Find the length of XY.
Solution
Solution: Let O be the circumcenter of △CDE. Observe that △ABC∼△XYC. Moreover, △ABC is a right triangle because 12+(43)2=72, so the length XY is just equal to 2r, where r is the radius of the circumcircle of △CDE. Since D and E are on the angle trisectors of angle C, we see that △ODE, △XDO, and △YEO are equilateral. The length of the altitude from C to AB is 743. The distance from C to XY is ABXY⋅743=72r⋅743, while the distance between lines XY and AB is 2r3. Hence we have 743=72r⋅743+2r3 Solving for r gives that r=6556, so XY=65112.
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