Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2020

Geometry Difficulty 4.3 AIME Find the answer United States

Problem:

The points (0,0)(0,0), (1,2)(1,2), (2,1)(2,1), (2,2)(2,2) in the plane are colored red while the points (1,0)(1,0), (2,0)(2,0), (0,1)(0,1), (0,2)(0,2) are colored blue. Four segments are drawn such that each one connects a red point to a blue point and each colored point is the endpoint of some segment. The smallest possible sum of the lengths of the segments can be expressed as a+ba+\sqrt{b}, where a,ba, b are positive integers. Compute 100a+b100 a+b.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Solution:

Figure 1

If (2,2)(2,2) is connected to (0,1)(0,1) or (1,0)(1,0), then the other 6 points can be connected with segments of total length 33, which is minimal. This leads to a total length of 3+53+\sqrt{5}.

On the other hand, if (2,2)(2,2) is connected to (0,2)(0,2) or (2,0)(2,0), then connecting the other points with segments of total length 22 is impossible, so the minimal length is at least 2+2+2=4+2>3+52+2+\sqrt{2}=4+\sqrt{2}>3+\sqrt{5}.

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