Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 3 / 87 of 260 #87 of 1964

Problem 87

AMC 10/12, early questions
Geometry Difficulty 3.3 Multiple choice

Given points A(1,1)A(1,1), B(0,2)B(0,2), C(1,1)C(-1,-1). The projection vector of AB\overrightarrow{AB} on BC\overrightarrow{BC} is:

Pick one

Official solution

To solve the problem, we perform the following steps:

1. **Determine the vectors AB\overrightarrow{AB} and BC\overrightarrow{BC}**

Given A(1,1)A(1,1), B(0,2)B(0,2), C(1,1)C(-1,-1), we calculate:

- AB=BA=(01,21)=(1,1)\overrightarrow{AB} = B - A = (0-1, 2-1) = (-1, 1)
- BC=CB=(10,12)=(1,3)\overrightarrow{BC} = C - B = (-1-0, -1-2) = (-1, -3)

2. **Calculate the magnitudes of AB\overrightarrow{AB} and BC\overrightarrow{BC}**

- AB=(1)2+12=2|\overrightarrow{AB}| = \sqrt{(-1)^2 + 1^2} = \sqrt{2}
- BC=(1)2+(3)2=10|\overrightarrow{BC}| = \sqrt{(-1)^2 + (-3)^2} = \sqrt{10}

3. **Find the cosine of the angle between AB\overrightarrow{AB} and BC\overrightarrow{BC}**

The cosine of the angle can be calculated by the formula:
cos(AB,BC)=ABBCABBC\cos(\overrightarrow{AB},\overrightarrow{BC}) = \frac{\overrightarrow{AB} \cdot \overrightarrow{BC}}{|\overrightarrow{AB}| \cdot |\overrightarrow{BC}|}

Substituting the values, we get:
cos(AB,BC)=(1)(1)+(1)(3)210=13210=55\cos(\overrightarrow{AB},\overrightarrow{BC}) = \frac{(-1)(-1) + (1)(-3)}{\sqrt{2} \cdot \sqrt{10}} = \frac{1 - 3}{\sqrt{2} \cdot \sqrt{10}} = -\frac{\sqrt{5}}{5}

This negative value indicates that the angle between AB\overrightarrow{AB} and BC\overrightarrow{BC} is obtuse, meaning the projection vector will be in the opposite direction of BC\overrightarrow{BC}.

4. **Calculate the magnitude of the projection of AB\overrightarrow{AB} on BC\overrightarrow{BC}**

The magnitude of this projection can be found by:
ABcos(AB,BC)=255=105|{\overrightarrow{AB}}| \cdot |\cos(\overrightarrow{AB},\overrightarrow{BC})| = \sqrt{2} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{5}}{5} = \frac{\sqrt{10}}{5}

Since the projection is in the opposite direction of BC\overrightarrow{BC}, we find the unit vector of BC\overrightarrow{BC} and scale it by the magnitude of the projection:

- First, find the scale factor: 10510=15\frac{\frac{\sqrt{10}}{5}}{\sqrt{10}} = \frac{1}{5}
- Then, apply the scale factor to BC\overrightarrow{BC}: 15(1,3)=(15,35)-\frac{1}{5} \cdot (-1, -3) = (\frac{1}{5}, \frac{3}{5})

Therefore, the projection vector of AB\overrightarrow{AB} on BC\overrightarrow{BC} is (15,35)\boxed{(\frac{1}{5}, \frac{3}{5})}.

Hence, the correct answer is C\boxed{\text{C}}.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.