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Geometry Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Find the answer

Triangle ABC\triangle A B C has AB=21,BC=55A B=21, B C=55, and CA=56C A=56. There are two points PP in the plane of ABC\triangle A B C for which BAP=CAP\angle B A P=\angle C A P and BPC=90\angle B P C=90^{\circ}. Find the distance between them.

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

Solution

Let P1P_{1} and P2P_{2} be the two possible points PP, with AP1<AP2A P_{1}<A P_{2}. Both lie on the A\angle A-bisector and the circle γ\gamma with diameter BCB C. Let DD be the point where the A\angle A-bisector intersects BCB C, let MM be the midpoint of BCB C, and let XX be the foot of the perpendicular from MM onto the A\angle A-bisector. Since we know the radius of γ\gamma, to compute P1P2P_{1} P_{2} it suffices to compute MXM X. By the angle bisector theorem we find BD=15B D=15 and DC=40D C=40, so Stewart's theorem gives 154055+55AD2=21240+56215AD=2415 \cdot 40 \cdot 55+55 \cdot A D^{2}=21^{2} \cdot 40+56^{2} \cdot 15 \Longrightarrow A D=24. Then cosADB=212+152+24221524=12\cos \angle A D B=\frac{-21^{2}+15^{2}+24^{2}}{2 \cdot 15 \cdot 24}=\frac{1}{2}, so ADB=MDX=60\angle A D B=\angle M D X=60^{\circ}. Since DM=BMBD=55215=252D M=B M-B D=\frac{55}{2}-15=\frac{25}{2}, we get MX=DMsinMDX=2534M X=D M \sin \angle M D X=\frac{25 \sqrt{3}}{4}. Hence P1P2=2(552)2(2534)2=54092P_{1} P_{2}=2 \sqrt{\left(\frac{55}{2}\right)^{2}-\left(\frac{25 \sqrt{3}}{4}\right)^{2}}=\frac{5 \sqrt{409}}{2}.

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