2000 AIME II Problem 11

Attempt Problem 11 of the 2000 AIME II 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 2000 AIME II solutions, or check the answer key.

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11.

The coordinates of the vertices of isosceles trapezoid ABCDABCD are all integers, with A=(20,100)A = (20, 100) and D=(21,107).D = (21, 107). The trapezoid has no horizontal or vertical sides, and AB\overline{AB} and CD\overline{CD} are the only parallel sides. The sum of the absolute values of all possible slopes for AB\overline{AB} is m/n,m/n, where mm and nn are relatively prime positive integers. Find m+n.m + n.

Answer: 131
Concepts:trapezoidlattice pointslopecasework
Difficulty rating: 2990
Solution:

Since all vertices are lattice points, w=BCw = \overrightarrow{BC} is an integer vector with w=AD=50,|w| = |\overrightarrow{AD}| = \sqrt{50}, so ww is one of (±1,±7),(\pm 1, \pm 7), (±7,±1),(\pm 7, \pm 1), (±5,±5).(\pm 5, \pm 5). Write AD=(1,7)=su^+hv^\overrightarrow{AD} = (1, 7) = s\,\hat{u} + h\,\hat{v} where u^\hat{u} points along AB\overline{AB} and v^\hat{v} is perpendicular. Because ABCD,\overline{AB} \parallel \overline{CD}, the vector ww has the same perpendicular component h,h, and the equal leg lengths force its u^\hat{u}-component to be s-s (the value +s+s gives a parallelogram). Hence (1,7)w=2su^(1, 7) - w = 2s\,\hat{u} is parallel to AB.\overline{AB}.

Discard w=(1,7)w = (1, 7) (parallelogram) and w=(1,7)w = (-1, -7) (then h=0,h = 0, degenerate). The choices w=(1,7)w = (1, -7) and w=(1,7)w = (-1, 7) make (1,7)w(1, 7) - w vertical or horizontal, which is forbidden. The remaining eight choices give (1,7)w(1, 7) - w equal to (6,6),(-6, 6), (6,8),(-6, 8), (8,6),(8, 6), (8,8),(8, 8), (4,2),(-4, 2), (4,12),(-4, 12), (6,2),(6, 2), (6,12),(6, 12), with slopes 1,-1, 43,-\frac{4}{3}, 34,\frac{3}{4}, 1,1, 12,-\frac{1}{2}, 3,-3, 13,\frac{1}{3}, 2;2; each is realizable by placing BB suitably far along u^.\hat{u}.

The sum of the absolute values is 1+43+34+1+121 + \frac{4}{3} + \frac{3}{4} + 1 + \frac{1}{2} +3+13+2=11912,+ 3 + \frac{1}{3} + 2 = \frac{119}{12}, so m+n=119+12=131.m + n = 119 + 12 = 131.

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