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Geometry Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

The points NN, EE, FF and MM are on the sides ABAB, BCBC, CDCD and DADA, respectively, of a unit square ABCDABCD such that AN=BE=CF=DM=x|AN| = |BE| = |CF| = |DM| = x and 0<x<10 < x < 1. The lines AEAE, BFBF, CMCM and DNDN form a quadrilateral GHKLGHKL. Express the area of GHKLGHKL in terms of xx.

Solution

The right triangles ABE\triangle ABE and BCF\triangle BCF have legs of the same length, hence they are congruent. This implies that GBE+BEG=90\angle GBE + \angle BEG = 90^\circ and so

EGB=90\angle EGB = 90^\circ. This shows that BGE\triangle BGE is similar to BCF\triangle BCF. Using symmetry we see now that GHKLGHKL is a square. In particular, GLGL and HKHK are parallel, hence the triangles BGE\triangle BGE and BHC\triangle BHC are similar.

Figure 1

From these two similar triangles we obtain HCBC=GEBE=CFBF\frac{|HC|}{|BC|} = \frac{|GE|}{|BE|} = \frac{|CF|}{|BF|}. Using that BC=1|BC| = 1, BE=CF=x|BE| = |CF| = x, BF=1+x2|BF| = \sqrt{1+x^2} (Pythagoras) and symmetry, we obtain now
BG=HC=x1+x2andGE=x21+x2. |BG| = |HC| = \frac{x}{\sqrt{1+x^2}} \quad \text{and} \quad |GE| = \frac{x^2}{\sqrt{1+x^2}}.
The area of the quadrilateral FCEGFCEG, which is equal to the difference of the areas of the triangles BCF\triangle BCF and BGE\triangle BGE, is therefore equal to
12(xx31+x2)=x2(1+x2). \frac{1}{2} \left( x - \frac{x^3}{1+x^2} \right) = \frac{x}{2(1+x^2)}.
By symmetry again, MDFHMDFH, NAMKNAMK and EBNLEBNL have the same area. As these four quadrilaterals cover without overlap the space between GHKLGHKL and ABCDABCD, the area of the quadrilateral GHKLGHKL is equal to
12x1+x2=(1x)21+x2. 1 - \frac{2x}{1+x^2} = \frac{(1-x)^2}{1+x^2}.

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