Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /163 of 462

Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Let AA, BB, CC, DD, EE be five points in the plane with distances given (in some units) as
AB=12, BC=50, CD=38, AD=100, BE=30, CE=40. |AB| = 12,\ |BC| = 50,\ |CD| = 38,\ |AD| = 100,\ |BE| = 30,\ |CE| = 40.
Find the distance ED|ED|.

Solution

Since AD=100=12+50+38=AB+BC+CD|AD| = 100 = 12 + 50 + 38 = |AB| + |BC| + |CD|, the points AA, BB, CC, DD lie on a line in this order. Since
BE2+EC2=302+402=900+1600=2500=502=BC2, |BE|^2 + |EC|^2 = 30^2 + 40^2 = 900 + 1600 = 2500 = 50^2 = |BC|^2,
the triangle EBCEBC has a right angle at EE.

Figure 1

Let QQ be the projection of EE on the hypotenuse BCBC of this triangle. Then twice the area of this triangle is equal to
EQ×BC=EC×EB, |EQ| \times |BC| = |EC| \times |EB|,
hence
EQ=EC×EBBC=40×3050=24. |EQ| = \frac{|EC| \times |EB|}{|BC|} = \frac{40 \times 30}{50} = 24.
By Pythagoras,
QC=EC2EQ2=402242=1600576=1024=32, |QC| = \sqrt{|EC|^2 - |EQ|^2} = \sqrt{40^2 - 24^2} = \sqrt{1600 - 576} = \sqrt{1024} = 32,
and so QD=QC+CD=32+38=70|QD| = |QC| + |CD| = 32 + 38 = 70, hence
ED=QE2+QD2=242+702=576+4900=5476=74. |ED| = \sqrt{|QE|^2 + |QD|^2} = \sqrt{24^2 + 70^2} = \sqrt{576 + 4900} = \sqrt{5476} = 74.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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