Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.6 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:

Yet another trapezoid ABCDABCD has ADAD parallel to BCBC. ACAC and BDBD intersect at PP. If [ADP]/[BCP]=1/2[ADP]/[BCP] = 1/2, find [ADP]/[ABCD][ADP]/[ABCD]. (Here the notation [P1Pn][P_1 \cdots P_n] denotes the area of the polygon P1PnP_1 \cdots P_n.)

Solution

Solution:

A homothety (scaling) about PP takes triangle ADPADP into BCPBCP, since ADAD, BCBC are parallel and A,P,C;B,P,DA, P, C; B, P, D are collinear. The ratio of homothety is thus 2\sqrt{2}. It follows that, if we rescale to put [ADP]=1[ADP]=1, then [ABP]=[CDP]=2[ABP]=[CDP]=\sqrt{2}, just by the ratios of lengths of bases. So [ABCD]=3+22[ABCD]=3+2\sqrt{2}, so [ADP]/[ABCD]=1/(3+22)[ADP]/[ABCD]=1/(3+2\sqrt{2}). Simplifying this, we get 3223-2\sqrt{2}.

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