Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:

Let ABCABC be a triangle with AB=4AB = 4, BC=8BC = 8, and CA=5CA = 5. Let MM be the midpoint of BCBC, and let DD be the point on the circumcircle of ABCABC so that segment ADAD intersects the interior of ABCABC, and BAD=CAM\angle BAD = \angle CAM. Let ADAD intersect side BCBC at XX. Compute the ratio AX/ADAX / AD.

Solution

Solution:

Let EE be the intersection of AMAM with the circumcircle of ABCABC. We note that, by equal angles, ADCABMADC \sim ABM, so that
AD=AC(ABAM)=20AM AD = AC \left(\frac{AB}{AM}\right) = \frac{20}{AM}
Using the law of cosines on ABCABC, we get that
cosB=42+82522(4)(8)=5564 \cos B = \frac{4^2 + 8^2 - 5^2}{2(4)(8)} = \frac{55}{64}
Then, using the law of cosines on ABMABM, we get that
AM=42+422(4)(4)cosB=32AD=2023. AM = \sqrt{4^2 + 4^2 - 2(4)(4) \cos B} = \frac{3}{\sqrt{2}} \Rightarrow AD = \frac{20 \sqrt{2}}{3}.
Applying Power of a Point on MM,
(AM)(ME)=(BM)(MC)ME=1623AE=4126 (AM)(ME) = (BM)(MC) \Rightarrow ME = \frac{16 \sqrt{2}}{3} \Rightarrow AE = \frac{41 \sqrt{2}}{6}
Then, we note that AXBACEAXB \sim ACE, so that
AX=AB(ACAE)=60241AXAD=941 AX = AB \left(\frac{AC}{AE}\right) = \frac{60 \sqrt{2}}{41} \Rightarrow \frac{AX}{AD} = \frac{9}{41}

Figure 1

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