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Geometry Difficulty 3.3 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

A rectangle with dimensions 100 cm by 150 cm is tilted so that one corner is 20 cm above a horizontal line, as shown. To the nearest centimetre, the height of vertex ZZ above the horizontal line is (100+x)cm(100+x) \mathrm{cm}. What is the value of xx?

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

Solution

We enclose the given rectangle in a larger rectangle with horizontal and vertical sides so that the vertices of the smaller rectangle lie on the sides of the larger rectangle. We will also remove the units from the problem and deal with dimensionless quantities. Since VWYZV W Y Z is a rectangle, then YW=ZV=100Y W=Z V=100 and ZY=VW=150Z Y=V W=150. Since YCW\triangle Y C W is right-angled at CC, by the Pythagorean Theorem, CW2=YW2YC2=1002202=10000400=9600C W^{2}=Y W^{2}-Y C^{2}=100^{2}-20^{2}=10000-400=9600. Since CW>0C W>0, then CW=9600=16006=16006=406C W=\sqrt{9600}=\sqrt{1600 \cdot 6}=\sqrt{1600} \cdot \sqrt{6}=40 \sqrt{6}. The height of ZZ above the horizontal line is equal to the length of DCD C, which equals DY+YCD Y+Y C which equals DY+20D Y+20. Now ZDY\triangle Z D Y is right-angled at DD and YCW\triangle Y C W is right-angled at CC. Also, DYZ+ZYW+WYC=180\angle D Y Z+\angle Z Y W+\angle W Y C=180^{\circ}, which means that DYZ+WYC=90\angle D Y Z+\angle W Y C=90^{\circ}, since ZYW=90\angle Z Y W=90^{\circ}. Since CWY+WYC=90\angle C W Y+\angle W Y C=90^{\circ} as well (using the sum of the angles in YCW\triangle Y C W), we obtain DYZ=CWY\angle D Y Z=\angle C W Y, which tells us that ZDY\triangle Z D Y is similar to YCW\triangle Y C W. Therefore, DYZY=CWYW\frac{D Y}{Z Y}=\frac{C W}{Y W} and so DY=ZYCWYW=150406100=606D Y=\frac{Z Y \cdot C W}{Y W}=\frac{150 \cdot 40 \sqrt{6}}{100}=60 \sqrt{6}. Finally, DC=DY+20=606+20166.97D C=D Y+20=60 \sqrt{6}+20 \approx 166.97. Rounded to the nearest integer, DCD C is 167. Since the length of DCD C to the nearest integer is 100+x100+x and this must equal 167, then x=67x=67.

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