2016 AIME I Problem 9

Attempt Problem 9 of the 2016 AIME I 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 2016 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.

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9.

Triangle ABCABC has AB=40,AB = 40, AC=31,AC = 31, and sinA=15.\sin A = \frac{1}{5}. This triangle is inscribed in rectangle AQRSAQRS with BB on QR\overline{QR} and CC on RS.\overline{RS}. Find the maximum possible area of AQRS.AQRS.

Answer: 744
Concepts:trigonometric identityrectangleoptimization
Difficulty rating: 2990
Solution:

Let β=BAQ\beta = \angle BAQ and γ=CAS,\gamma = \angle CAS, so β+γ=90A.\beta + \gamma = 90^\circ - A. From the right triangles AQBAQB and ASC,ASC, the sides of the rectangle are AQ=40cosβAQ = 40\cos\beta and AS=31cosγ,AS = 31\cos\gamma, so its area is 4031cosβcosγ=620(cos(βγ)+cos(β+γ))=620(cos(βγ)+sinA), \begin{aligned} 40 \cdot 31 \cos\beta\cos\gamma \\ &\tiny = 620\bigl(\cos(\beta - \gamma) + \cos(\beta + \gamma)\bigr) \\ &\tiny = 620\bigl(\cos(\beta - \gamma) + \sin A\bigr), \end{aligned} using the product-to-sum identity and cos(90A)=sinA.\cos(90^\circ - A) = \sin A.

This is maximized when β=γ,\beta = \gamma, which the constraint allows, giving area 620(1+15)=744.620\left(1 + \frac{1}{5}\right) = 744.

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