1997 AIME Problem 7

Attempt Problem 7 of the 1997 AIME below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 1997 AIME solutions, or check the answer key.

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7.

A car travels due east at 23\frac{2}{3} mile per minute on a long, straight road. At the same time, a circular storm, whose radius is 5151 miles, moves southeast at 122\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{2} mile per minute. At time t=0,t = 0, the center of the storm is 110110 miles due north of the car. At time t=t1t = t_1 minutes, the car enters the storm circle, and at time t=t2t = t_2 minutes, the car leaves the storm circle. Find 12(t1+t2).\frac{1}{2}(t_1 + t_2).

Answer: 198
Concepts:coordinate geometrydistance formulaVieta’s Formulas
Difficulty rating: 2400
Solution:

Put the car at the origin at t=0,t = 0, with east as the positive xx-direction and north as the positive yy-direction. At time tt the car is at (2t3,0),\left(\frac{2t}{3}, 0\right), and the storm center, moving southeast at speed 22\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} (components 12\frac{1}{2} east and 12\frac{1}{2} south), is at (t2,110t2).\left(\frac{t}{2}, 110 - \frac{t}{2}\right).

The car is on the storm boundary when the squared distance is 512:51^2: (2t3t2)2+(110t2)2=512, \begin{aligned} &\left(\frac{2t}{3} - \frac{t}{2}\right)^2 \\ &\quad {}+ \left(110 - \frac{t}{2}\right)^2 = 51^2, \end{aligned} that is t236+t24\frac{t^2}{36} + \frac{t^2}{4} 110t+121002601=0,- 110t + 12100 - 2601 = 0, or 518t2110t+9499=0.\frac{5}{18}t^2 - 110t + 9499 = 0.

The roots are t1t_1 and t2,t_2, so by Vieta's formulas t1+t2=110185=396,t_1 + t_2 = \frac{110 \cdot 18}{5} = 396, and 12(t1+t2)=198.\frac{1}{2}(t_1 + t_2) = 198.

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