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Geometry Difficulty 2.5 Junior Find the answer

The area of the triangular region bounded by the xx-axis, the yy-axis and the line with equation y=2x6y=2x-6 is one-quarter of the area of the triangular region bounded by the xx-axis, the line with equation y=2x6y=2x-6 and the line with equation x=dx=d, where d>0d>0. What is the value of dd?

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

Solution

The line with equation y=2x6y=2x-6 has yy-intercept -6. Also, the xx-intercept of y=2x6y=2x-6 occurs when y=0y=0, which gives 0=2x60=2x-6 or 2x=62x=6 which gives x=3x=3. Therefore, the triangle bounded by the xx-axis, the yy-axis, and the line with equation y=2x6y=2x-6 has base of length 3 and height of length 6, and so has area 12×3×6=9\frac{1}{2} \times 3 \times 6=9. We want the area of the triangle bounded by the xx-axis, the vertical line with equation x=dx=d, and the line with equation y=2x6y=2x-6 to be 4 times this area, or 36. This means that x=dx=d is to the right of the point (3,0)(3,0), because the new area is larger. In other words, d>3d>3. The base of this triangle has length d3d-3, and its height is 2d62d-6, since the height is measured along the vertical line with equation x=dx=d. Thus, we want 12(d3)(2d6)=36\frac{1}{2}(d-3)(2d-6)=36 or (d3)(d3)=36(d-3)(d-3)=36 which means (d3)2=36(d-3)^{2}=36. Since d3>0d-3>0, then d3=6d-3=6 which gives d=9d=9. Alternatively, we could note that if similar triangles have areas in the ratio 4:14:1 then their corresponding lengths are in the ratio 4:1\sqrt{4}:1 or 2:12:1. Since the two triangles in question are similar (both are right-angled and they have equal angles at the point (3,0)(3,0)), the larger triangle has base of length 2×3=62 \times 3=6 and so d=3+6=9d=3+6=9.

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