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Geometry Difficulty 4.9 AIME Find the answer

Pentagon JAMESJ A M E S is such that AM=SJA M=S J and the internal angles satisfy J=A=E=90\angle J=\angle A=\angle E=90^{\circ}, and M=S\angle M=\angle S. Given that there exists a diagonal of JAMESJ A M E S that bisects its area, find the ratio of the shortest side of JAMESJ A M E S to the longest side of JAMESJ A M E S.

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

Solution

Since J=A=90\angle J=\angle A=90^{\circ} and AM=JS,JAMSA M=J S, J A M S must be a rectangle. In addition, M+S=270\angle M+\angle S=270^{\circ}, so M=S=135\angle M=\angle S=135^{\circ}. Therefore, ESM=EMS=45\angle E S M=\angle E M S=45^{\circ}, which means MESM E S is an isosceles right triangle. Note that AMEA M E and JSEJ S E are congruent, which means that [JAES]=[JAE]+[JSE]=[JAE]+[AME]>[AME][J A E S]=[J A E]+[J S E]=[J A E]+[A M E]>[A M E], so AEA E cannot be our diagonal. Similarly, JEJ E cannot be our diagonal. Diagonals SAS A and JMJ M bisect rectangle JAMSJ A M S, so they also cannot bisect the pentagon. Thus, the only diagonal that can bisect [JAMES][J A M E S] is MSM S, which implies [JAMS]=[MES][J A M S]=[M E S]. We know [JAMS]=JAAM[J A M S]=J A \cdot A M and [MES]=MEES2[M E S]=\frac{M E \cdot E S}{2}, and ME=ES=JA2M E=E S=\frac{J A}{\sqrt{2}}, which implies JAAM=JA24AMJA=14J A \cdot A M=\frac{J A^{2}}{4} \Longrightarrow \frac{A M}{J A}=\frac{1}{4} Finally, EME M and MSM S are both 12\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} the length of SM=JAS M=J A. This means that AMA M is our shortest side and JAJ A is our longest side, so 14\frac{1}{4} is our answer.

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