Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2007

Algebra Difficulty 3.9 AMC 10/12 Find the answer Italy

Problem:

An equilateral triangle has the same perimeter as a rectangle of dimensions bb and hh (with b>hb > h). The area of the triangle is 3\sqrt{3} times the area of the rectangle. What is bh\frac{b}{h}?

Pick one

Solution

Solution:

The answer is (E)\mathbf{(E)}. Letting aa be the side of the equilateral triangle, we have the relations 3a=2(b+h)3a = 2(b + h), a234=3bh\frac{a^{2} \sqrt{3}}{4} = \sqrt{3} b h, from which
{b+h=3a2bh=a24 \left\{ \begin{array}{l} b + h = \frac{3a}{2} \\ bh = \frac{a^{2}}{4} \end{array} \right.
The resolving equation of the system, symmetric in the unknowns bb and hh, is t23a2t+a24t^{2} - \frac{3a}{2} t + \frac{a^{2}}{4}, where tt is either one of the unknowns. We thus have 4t26at+a2=04 t^{2} - 6a t + a^{2} = 0, from which
t=3±944a t = \frac{3 \pm \sqrt{9-4}}{4} a
from which
bh=3+535 \frac{b}{h} = \frac{3 + \sqrt{5}}{3 - \sqrt{5}}
Rationalizing, we obtain
bh=7+352 \frac{b}{h} = \frac{7 + 3 \sqrt{5}}{2}

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