Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /584 of 860

Geometry Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let ABCA B C be a triangle with A=18,B=36\angle A=18^{\circ}, \angle B=36^{\circ}. Let MM be the midpoint of AB,DA B, D a point on ray CMC M such that AB=AD;EA B=A D ; E a point on ray BCB C such that AB=BEA B=B E, and FF a point on ray ACA C such that AB=AFA B=A F. Find FDE\angle F D E.

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

Solution

Let ABD=ADB=x\angle A B D=\angle A D B=x, and DAB=1802x\angle D A B=180-2 x. In triangle ACDA C D, by the law of sines, CD=ADsinACMsin1982xC D=\frac{A D}{\sin \angle A C M} \cdot \sin 198-2 x, and by the law of sines in triangle BCD,CD=BDsinBCMsinx+36B C D, C D=\frac{B D}{\sin \angle B C M} \cdot \sin x+36. Combining the two, we have 2cosx=BDAD=sin1982xsinx+36sinBCMsinACM2 \cos x=\frac{B D}{A D}=\frac{\sin 198-2 x}{\sin x+36} \cdot \frac{\sin \angle B C M}{\sin \angle A C M}. But by the ratio lemma, 1=MBMA=CBCAsinBCMsinACM1=\frac{M B}{M A}=\frac{C B}{C A} \frac{\sin \angle B C M}{\sin \angle A C M}, meaning that sinBCMsinACM=CACB=sin36sin18=2cos18\frac{\sin \angle B C M}{\sin \angle A C M}=\frac{C A}{C B}=\frac{\sin 36}{\sin 18}=2 \cos 18. Plugging this in and simplifying, we have 2cosx=sin1982xsinx+362cos18=cos1082xcos54x2cos182 \cos x=\frac{\sin 198-2 x}{\sin x+36} \cdot 2 \cos 18=\frac{\cos 108-2 x}{\cos 54-x} \cdot 2 \cos 18, so that cosxcos18=cos1082xcos54x\frac{\cos x}{\cos 18}=\frac{\cos 108-2 x}{\cos 54-x}. We see that x=36x=36^{\circ} is a solution to this equation, and by carefully making rough sketches of both functions, we can convince ourselves that this is the only solution where xx is between 0 and 90 degrees. Therefore ABD=ADB=36\angle A B D=\angle A D B=36, DAB=108\angle D A B=108. Simple angle chasing yields AEB=72,ECA=54,EAC=54,EAB=72\angle A E B=72, \angle E C A=54, \angle E A C=54, \angle E A B=72, making D,AD, A, and EE collinear, and so BDE=36\angle B D E=36. And because AF=AB=AD,FDB=1/2FAB=9A F=A B=A D, \angle F D B=1 / 2 \angle F A B=9, so FDE=369=27\angle F D E=36-9=27.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.