Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / HMMT November /284 of 672

HMMT November, 2015

Geometry Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:

Let ABCDABCD be a quadrilateral with an inscribed circle ω\omega that has center II. If IA=5IA = 5, IB=7IB = 7, IC=4IC = 4, ID=9ID = 9, find the value of ABCD\frac{AB}{CD}.

Solution

Solution:

The II-altitudes of triangles AIBAIB and CIDCID are both equal to the radius of ω\omega, hence have equal length. Therefore [AIB][CID]=ABCD\frac{[AIB]}{[CID]} = \frac{AB}{CD}. Also note that [AIB]=IA⋅IB⋅sin⁡AIB[AIB] = IA \cdot IB \cdot \sin AIB and [CID]=IC⋅ID⋅sin⁡CID[CID] = IC \cdot ID \cdot \sin CID, but since lines IA,IB,IC,IDIA, IB, IC, ID bisect angles ∠DAB,∠ABC,∠BCD,∠CDA\angle DAB, \angle ABC, \angle BCD, \angle CDA respectively we have that ∠AIB+∠CID=(180∘−∠IAB−∠IBA)+(180∘−∠ICD−∠IDC)=180∘\angle AIB + \angle CID = (180^\circ - \angle IAB - \angle IBA) + (180^\circ - \angle ICD - \angle IDC) = 180^\circ. So, sin⁡AIB=sin⁡CID\sin AIB = \sin CID. Therefore [AIB][CID]=IA⋅IBIC⋅ID\frac{[AIB]}{[CID]} = \frac{IA \cdot IB}{IC \cdot ID}. Hence
ABCD=IA⋅IBIC⋅ID=5⋅74⋅9=3536 \frac{AB}{CD} = \frac{IA \cdot IB}{IC \cdot ID} = \frac{5 \cdot 7}{4 \cdot 9} = \frac{35}{36}

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

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