2004 AIME I Problem 9
Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 9 of the 2004 AIME I, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2004 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.
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Difficulty rating: 2990
9.
Let be a triangle with sides and and be a -by- rectangle. A segment is drawn to divide triangle into a triangle and a trapezoid and another segment is drawn to divide rectangle into a triangle and a trapezoid such that is similar to and is similar to The minimum value of the area of can be written in the form where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find
Solution:
A segment cuts the rectangle into a triangle and a trapezoid only if it runs from a vertex to a point on a nonadjacent side, so is a right triangle whose legs lie along two sides of the rectangle, one leg being a full side ( or ). Since the cut in the -- right triangle must also produce a right triangle, so it is parallel to a leg, and then Hence is a -- triangle too: its legs are and (full side ) or and (full side ); the other orientations need legs or which do not fit.
In both cases the trapezoid has two right angles and an acute angle between the cut and its longer base with tangent In triangle a cut parallel to the leg of length gives an acute angle with tangent matching, while a cut parallel to the leg of length gives tangent which cannot match. So the cut is parallel to the side of length and the parallel bases of are the cut segment and the side of length
Similarity of the trapezoids forces to equal the ratio of the bases of which is in the first case and in the second. Then giving or The minimum is so
Problem 9 in Other Years
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