Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 337 of 400 #1337 of 2000

Problem 1337

National olympiad, first round
Geometry Difficulty 6.6 Find the answer

In isosceles ABC,AB=AC,BAC\vartriangle ABC, AB = AC, \angle BAC is obtuse, and points EE and FF lie on sides ABAB and ACAC, respectively, so that AE=10,AF=15AE = 10, AF = 15. The area of AEF\vartriangle AEF is 6060, and the area of quadrilateral BEFCBEFC is 102102. Find BCBC.

Official solution

1. Given that ABC\triangle ABC is isosceles with AB=ACAB = AC and BAC\angle BAC is obtuse, we need to find the length of BCBC.
2. Points EE and FF lie on sides ABAB and ACAC respectively, such that AE=10AE = 10 and AF=15AF = 15. The area of AEF\triangle AEF is 6060.
3. Using the area formula for a triangle, we have:
12AEAFsin(EAF)=60 \frac{1}{2} \cdot AE \cdot AF \cdot \sin(\angle EAF) = 60
Substituting the given values:
121015sin(BAC)=60 \frac{1}{2} \cdot 10 \cdot 15 \cdot \sin(\angle BAC) = 60
Simplifying, we get:
75sin(BAC)=60    sin(BAC)=45 75 \cdot \sin(\angle BAC) = 60 \implies \sin(\angle BAC) = \frac{4}{5}
4. Since sin(BAC)=45\sin(\angle BAC) = \frac{4}{5}, and BAC\angle BAC is obtuse, we have cos(BAC)=1sin2(BAC)=1(45)2=35\cos(\angle BAC) = -\sqrt{1 - \sin^2(\angle BAC)} = -\sqrt{1 - \left(\frac{4}{5}\right)^2} = -\frac{3}{5}.
5. The area of quadrilateral BEFCBEFC is 102102, so the total area of ABC\triangle ABC is:
Area(ABC)=Area(AEF)+Area(BEFC)=60+102=162 \text{Area}(\triangle ABC) = \text{Area}(\triangle AEF) + \text{Area}(BEFC) = 60 + 102 = 162
6. Using the area formula for ABC\triangle ABC:
12ABACsin(BAC)=162 \frac{1}{2} \cdot AB \cdot AC \cdot \sin(\angle BAC) = 162
Let AB=AC=xAB = AC = x. Then:
12xx45=162    2x25=162    x2=16252=405    x=405=95 \frac{1}{2} \cdot x \cdot x \cdot \frac{4}{5} = 162 \implies \frac{2x^2}{5} = 162 \implies x^2 = \frac{162 \cdot 5}{2} = 405 \implies x = \sqrt{405} = 9\sqrt{5}
Therefore, AB=AC=95AB = AC = 9\sqrt{5}.
7. Using the Law of Cosines to find BCBC:
BC2=AB2+AC22ABACcos(BAC) BC^2 = AB^2 + AC^2 - 2 \cdot AB \cdot AC \cdot \cos(\angle BAC)
Substituting the known values:
BC2=(95)2+(95)22(95)(95)(35) BC^2 = (9\sqrt{5})^2 + (9\sqrt{5})^2 - 2 \cdot (9\sqrt{5}) \cdot (9\sqrt{5}) \cdot \left(-\frac{3}{5}\right)
Simplifying:
BC2=405+405+240535=405+405+486=1296 BC^2 = 405 + 405 + 2 \cdot 405 \cdot \frac{3}{5} = 405 + 405 + 486 = 1296
Therefore:
BC=1296=36 BC = \sqrt{1296} = 36

The final answer is 36\boxed{36}.

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