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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let ABCA B C be an acute triangle with AA-excircle Γ\Gamma. Let the line through AA perpendicular to BCB C intersect BCB C at DD and intersect Γ\Gamma at EE and FF. Suppose that AD=DE=EFA D=D E=E F. If the maximum value of sinB\sin B can be expressed as a+bc\frac{\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b}}{c} for positive integers a,ba, b, and cc, compute the minimum possible value of a+b+ca+b+c.

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

Solution

First note that we can assume AB<ACA B<A C. Suppose Γ\Gamma is tangent to BCB C at TT. Let AD=DE=EF=xA D=D E=E F=x. Then, by Power of a Point, we have DT2=DEDF=x2x=2x2DT=x2D T^{2}=D E \cdot D F=x \cdot 2 x=2 x^{2} \Longrightarrow D T=x \sqrt{2}. Note that CT=sbC T=s-b, and since the length of the tangent from AA to Γ\Gamma is ss, we have s2=AEAF=6x2s^{2}=A E \cdot A F=6 x^{2}, so CT=x6bC T=x \sqrt{6}-b. Since BC=BD+DT+TCB C=B D+D T+T C, we have BD=BCx2(x6b)=a+bx(2+6)B D=B C-x \sqrt{2}-(x \sqrt{6}-b)=a+b-x(\sqrt{2}+\sqrt{6}). Since a+b=2sc=2x6ca+b=2 s-c=2 x \sqrt{6}-c, we have BD=x(62)cB D=x(\sqrt{6}-\sqrt{2})-c. Now, by Pythagorean Theorem, we have c2=AB2=AD2+BD2=x2+[x(62)c]2c^{2}=A B^{2}=A D^{2}+B D^{2}=x^{2}+[x(\sqrt{6}-\sqrt{2})-c]^{2}. Simplifying gives x2(943)=xc(2622)x^{2}(9-4 \sqrt{3})=x c(2 \sqrt{6}-2 \sqrt{2}). This yields xc=2622943=62+10633=72+60033\frac{x}{c}=\frac{2 \sqrt{6}-2 \sqrt{2}}{9-4 \sqrt{3}}=\frac{6 \sqrt{2}+10 \sqrt{6}}{33}=\frac{\sqrt{72}+\sqrt{600}}{33}

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