Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Find the answer

An equilateral triangle lies in the Cartesian plane such that the xx-coordinates of its vertices are pairwise distinct and all satisfy the equation x39x2+10x+5=0x^{3}-9 x^{2}+10 x+5=0. Compute the side length of the triangle.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

Let three points be A,BA, B, and CC with xx-coordinates a,ba, b, and cc, respectively. Let the circumcircle of ABC\triangle A B C meet the line y=by=b at point PP. Then, we have BPC=60PC=\angle B P C=60^{\circ} \Longrightarrow P C= 23(cb)\frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}(c-b). Similarly, AP=23(ba)A P=\frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}(b-a). Thus, by the Law of Cosines, AC2=AP2+PC22APPCcos120=43((cb)2+(ba)2+(cb)(ba))=43(a2+b2+c2abbcca)=43((a+b+c)23(ab+bc+ca)).\begin{aligned} A C^{2} & =A P^{2}+P C^{2}-2 \cdot A P \cdot P C \cos 120^{\circ} \\ & =\frac{4}{3}\left((c-b)^{2}+(b-a)^{2}+(c-b)(b-a)\right) \\ & =\frac{4}{3}\left(a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}-a b-b c-c a\right) \\ & =\frac{4}{3}\left((a+b+c)^{2}-3(a b+b c+c a)\right) . \end{aligned} By Vieta's we have a+b+c=9a+b+c=9 and ab+bc+ca=10a b+b c+c a=10, so we have AC2=43(8130)=68A C^{2}=\frac{4}{3}(81-30)=68, implying that the answer is 68=217\sqrt{68}=2 \sqrt{17}.

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