Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 3 / 178 of 260 #178 of 2000

Problem 178

AMC 10/12, early questions
Algebra Difficulty 3.6 Find the answer

Given vectors a\overrightarrow {a} and b\overrightarrow {b} that satisfy a=b=1| \overrightarrow {a}|=| \overrightarrow {b}|=1, and 2ab=5|2 \overrightarrow {a}- \overrightarrow {b}|= \sqrt {5},
(1) Find the value of 2a3b| \overrightarrow {2a}- \overrightarrow {3b}|;
(2) Find the angle θ between 3ab3 \overrightarrow {a}- \overrightarrow {b} and a2b\overrightarrow {a}-2 \overrightarrow {b}.

Official solution

(1) Since vectors a\overrightarrow {a} and b\overrightarrow {b} satisfy a=b=1| \overrightarrow {a}|=| \overrightarrow {b}|=1, and 2ab=5|2 \overrightarrow {a}- \overrightarrow {b}|= \sqrt {5},
5=2ab2=4a2+b24ab=4×12+124ab5=|2 \overrightarrow {a}- \overrightarrow {b}|^{2}=4 \overrightarrow {a}^{2}+ \overrightarrow {b}^{2}-4 \overrightarrow {a}\cdot \overrightarrow {b}=4×1^{2}+1^{2}-4 \overrightarrow {a}\cdot \overrightarrow {b},
ab=0\overrightarrow {a}\cdot \overrightarrow {b}=0.
2a3b=4a2+9b212ab=4×12+9×120=13| \overrightarrow {2a}- \overrightarrow {3b}|= \sqrt {4 \overrightarrow {a}^{2}+9 \overrightarrow {b}^{2}-12 \overrightarrow {a}\cdot \overrightarrow {b}}= \sqrt {4×1^{2}+9×1^{2}-0}= \sqrt {13}.

(2)
3ab=9a2+b26ab=9+10=10|3 \overrightarrow {a}- \overrightarrow {b}|= \sqrt {9 \overrightarrow {a}^{2}+ \overrightarrow {b}^{2}-6 \overrightarrow {a}\cdot \overrightarrow {b}}= \sqrt {9+1-0}= \sqrt {10},
a2b=a2+4b24ab=1+40=5| \overrightarrow {a}-2 \overrightarrow {b}|= \sqrt { \overrightarrow {a}^{2}+4 \overrightarrow {b}^{2}-4 \overrightarrow {a}\cdot \overrightarrow {b}}= \sqrt {1+4-0}= \sqrt {5},
(3ab)(a2b)=3a2+2b27ab=5(3 \overrightarrow {a}- \overrightarrow {b})\cdot ( \overrightarrow {a}-2 \overrightarrow {b})=3 \overrightarrow {a}^{2}+2 \overrightarrow {b}^{2}-7 \overrightarrow {a}\cdot \overrightarrow {b}=5.
cosθ=(3ab)(a2b)3aba2b=510×5=22\cos θ= \frac {(3 \overrightarrow {a}- \overrightarrow {b})\cdot ( \overrightarrow {a}-2 \overrightarrow {b})}{|3 \overrightarrow {a}- \overrightarrow {b}| | \overrightarrow {a}-2 \overrightarrow {b}|}= \frac {5}{ \sqrt {10}× \sqrt {5}}= \frac { \sqrt {2}}{2},
Since θ∈[0,π], θ=π4θ= \boxed{\frac {π}{4}}.

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