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HMMT November

Geometry Difficulty 4.8 AIME Find the answer

ABCDA B C D is a parallelogram satisfying AB=7,BC=2A B=7, B C=2, and ∠DAB=120∘\angle D A B=120^{\circ}. Parallelogram ECFAE C F A is contained in ABCDA B C D and is similar to it. Find the ratio of the area of ECFAE C F A to the area of ABCDA B C D.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

First, note that BDB D is the long diagonal of ABCDA B C D, and ACA C is the long diagonal of ECFAE C F A. Because the ratio of the areas of similar figures is equal to the square of the ratio of their side lengths, we know that the ratio of the area of ECFAE C F A to the area of ABCDA B C D is equal to the ratio AC2BD2\frac{A C^{2}}{B D^{2}}. Using law of cosines on triangle ABDA B D, we have BD2=AD2+AB2−2(AD)(AB)cos⁡(120∘)=22+72−2(2)(7)(−12)=67B D^{2}=A D^{2}+A B^{2}-2(A D)(A B) \cos \left(120^{\circ}\right)=2^{2}+7^{2}-2(2)(7)\left(-\frac{1}{2}\right)=67. Using law of cosines on triangle ABCA B C, we have AC2=AB2+BC2−2(AB)(BC)cos⁡(60∘)=72+22−2(7)(2)(12)=39A C^{2}=A B^{2}+B C^{2}-2(A B)(B C) \cos \left(60^{\circ}\right)=7^{2}+2^{2}-2(7)(2)\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)=39. Finally, AC2BD2=3967\frac{A C^{2}}{B D^{2}}=\frac{39}{67}.

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