Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 260 of 400 #860 of 1964

Problem 860

AIME late
Geometry Difficulty 5.7 Find the answer

Question 166, Given that the vertex of the parabola is at the origin, the focus is on the x\mathrm{x}-axis, the three vertices of ABC\triangle \mathrm{ABC} are all on the parabola, and the centroid of ABC\triangle A B C is the focus FF of the parabola. If the equation of the line on which side BCB C lies is 4x+y20=04 x+y-20=0, then the equation of the parabola is \qquad -

A number or a short expression. Spacing, $ signs and \frac vs / are all fine.

Official solution

Question 166, Solution: Let the equation of the parabola be y2=2pxy^{2}=2 p x, then F(p2,0)F\left(\frac{p}{2}, 0\right). Solving the system of equations {y2=2px4x+y20=0\left\{\begin{array}{c}y^{2}=2 p x \\ 4 x+y-20=0\end{array}\right., we get (204x)2=2px8x2(80+p)x+200=0(20-4 x)^{2}=2 p x \Rightarrow 8 x^{2}-(80+p) x+200=0. According to Vieta's formulas, we have {xB+xc=p8+10yB+yC=p2\left\{\begin{array}{c}x_{B}+x_{c}=\frac{p}{8}+10 \\ y_{B}+y_{C}=-\frac{p}{2}\end{array}\right.. Noting that the centroid of ABC\triangle A B C is F(p2,0)F\left(\frac{p}{2}, 0\right), hence
{xA+xB+xc=3p2yA+yB+yC=0{xA=11p810yA=p2 \left\{\begin{array} { l } { x _ { A } + x _ { B } + x _ { c } = \frac { 3 p } { 2 } } \\ { y _ { A } + y _ { B } + y _ { C } = 0 } \end{array} \Rightarrow \left\{\begin{array}{c} x_{A}=\frac{11 p}{8}-10 \\ y_{A}=\frac{p}{2} \end{array}\right.\right.

Since point AA lies on the parabola, we have (p2)2=2p(11p810)\left(\frac{p}{2}\right)^{2}=2 p \cdot\left(\frac{11 p}{8}-10\right), solving this gives p=8p=8. In conclusion, the equation of the parabola is y2=16xy^{2}=16 x.

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