Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:

Let PP be a point inside isosceles trapezoid ABCDA B C D with ABCDA B \parallel C D such that

PAD=PDA=90BPC \angle P A D = \angle P D A = 90^{\circ} - \angle B P C

If PA=14P A = 14, AB=18A B = 18, and CD=28C D = 28, compute the area of ABCDA B C D.

Solution

Solution:

Figure 1

Let QQ be the circumcenter of BPC\triangle B P C. Thus, QBC=QCB=90BPC\angle Q B C = \angle Q C B = 90^{\circ} - \angle B P C, and so PAD\triangle P A D and QBC\triangle Q B C are congruent. This means that PQP Q, ABA B, and CDC D share the common perpendicular bisector.

We now find the area by determining the altitude. Note that we have all four side lengths of isosceles trapezoids PQABP Q A B and PQCDP Q C D. Thus, one can compute their altitudes via Pythagorean theorem:

distance(P,AB)=142(18142)2=83distance(P,CD)=142(28142)2=73 \begin{aligned} & \operatorname{distance}(P, A B) = \sqrt{14^{2} - \left(\frac{18-14}{2}\right)^{2}} = 8 \sqrt{3} \\ & \operatorname{distance}(P, C D) = \sqrt{14^{2} - \left(\frac{28-14}{2}\right)^{2}} = 7 \sqrt{3} \end{aligned}

so the altitude of trapezoid ABCDA B C D is 15315 \sqrt{3}, so the final answer is
12(14+18)153=3453. \frac{1}{2} \cdot (14 + 18) \cdot 15 \sqrt{3} = 345 \sqrt{3}.

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