Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.4 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Argentina

In the quadrilateral ABCDABCD, whose sides are ABAB, BCBC, CDCD and DADA, ABC=BCD=150\angle ABC = \angle BCD = 150^\circ, AB=18 cmAB = 18\ \text{cm} and BC=24 cmBC = 24\ \text{cm}. Outside the quadrilateral ABCDABCD we draw the equilateral triangles APBAPB, BQCBQC and CRDCRD. Then we draw the segments PQPQ and QRQR and thus a pentagon APQRDAPQRD is formed. Given that the perimeter of APQRDAPQRD is 32 cm32\ \text{cm} greater than the perimeter of ABCDABCD, find the length of CDCD.

Solution

First, let us notice that since APBAPB and CDRCDR are equilateral, we have AB=APAB = AP and CD=DRCD = DR. Hence, the difference between the perimeters of APQRDAPQRD and ABCDABCD equals
(AD+DR+QR+PQ+AP)(AD+CD+BC+AB)=PQ+QRBC. (AD + DR + QR + PQ + AP) - (AD + CD + BC + AB) = PQ + QR - BC.
By hypothesis we know that BC=24BC = 24 and per(APQRD)per(ABCD)=32\text{per}(APQRD) - \text{per}(ABCD) = 32. Therefore, using the previous equality, we get PQ+QR=56PQ + QR = 56.

On the other hand, we have that PB^Q=360AB^CCB^QAB^PP\hat{B}Q = 360^\circ - A\hat{B}C - C\hat{B}Q - A\hat{B}P, which gives PB^Q=90P\hat{B}Q = 90^\circ since AB^C=150A\hat{B}C = 150^\circ and AB^P=CB^Q=60A\hat{B}P = C\hat{B}Q = 60^\circ. Analogously, we can obtain that QC^R=90Q\hat{C}R = 90^\circ.
Using the Pythagorean theorem on the triangle PBQ\triangle PBQ we find that PQ=182+242=30PQ = \sqrt{18^2 + 24^2} = 30 and so, using that PQ+QR=56PQ + QR = 56, it follows that QR=26QR = 26.
Finally, since QC^R=90Q\hat{C}R = 90^\circ, we can apply the Pythagorean theorem again but now in the triangle CQR\triangle CQR in order to get QR2=CQ2+CR2QR^2 = CQ^2 + CR^2. From the fact that QC=BC=24QC = BC = 24 and QR=26QR = 26 it follows that CR=10CR = 10. Since CR=CDCR = CD because CDR\triangle CDR is equilateral, it is CD=10CD = 10.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.