2019 AIME I Problem 11

Attempt Problem 11 of the 2019 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 2019 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.

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11.

In △ABC,\triangle ABC, the sides have integer lengths and AB=AC.AB = AC. Circle ω\omega has its center at the incenter of △ABC.\triangle ABC. An excircle of △ABC\triangle ABC is a circle in the exterior of △ABC\triangle ABC that is tangent to one side of the triangle and tangent to the extensions of the other two sides. Suppose that the excircle tangent to BC‾\overline{BC} is internally tangent to ω,\omega, and the other two excircles are both externally tangent to ω.\omega. Find the minimum possible value of the perimeter of △ABC.\triangle ABC.

Answer: 20
Concepts:incircle, incenter, and inradiustangent circlescoordinate geometry
Difficulty rating: 3160
Small Hint:

Internal tangency with the excircle opposite AA forces the radius of ω\omega to be r+2rA,r + 2r_A, where rr is the inradius and rAr_A that exradius

Big Hint:

With BCBC on the xx-axis, the BB-excircle has radius equal to the height hh from A;A; the external tangency collapses to one linear relation between base and leg

Solution:

Let BC=aBC = a and AB=AC=b.AB = AC = b. Place B=(−a2,0),B = \left(-\frac{a}{2}, 0\right), C=(a2,0),C = \left(\frac{a}{2}, 0\right), A=(0,h)A = (0, h) with h=b2−a24,h = \sqrt{b^2 - \frac{a^2}{4}}, so the semiperimeter is s=b+a2s = b + \frac{a}{2} and the area is K=ah2.K = \frac{ah}{2}. The inradius and exradii are r=Ks=aha+2b,r = \frac{K}{s} = \frac{ah}{a + 2b}, rA=Ks−a=ah2b−a,r_A = \frac{K}{s - a} = \frac{ah}{2b - a}, and rB=Ks−b=h.r_B = \frac{K}{s - b} = h. The incenter is I=(0,r)I = (0, r) and the AA-excircle has center (0,−rA).(0, -r_A). The BB-excircle touches line BCBC at distance ss from B,B, that is, at x=b,x = b, so its center is (b,h).(b, h).

Internal tangency with the AA-excircle: the center distance is r+rA,r + r_A, so the radius ρ\rho of ω\omega satisfies ρ−rA=r+rA,\rho - r_A = r + r_A, i.e. ρ=r+2rA.\rho = r + 2r_A. External tangency with the BB-excircle requires b2+(h−r)2=(ρ+h)2b^2 + (h - r)^2 = (\rho + h)^2 =(h+r+2rA)2,= (h + r + 2r_A)^2, which rearranges to b2=4(r+rA)(h+rA).b^2 = 4(r + r_A)(h + r_A). Since r+rA=4abh4b2−a2 r + r_A = \frac{4abh}{4b^2 - a^2} and h+rA=2bh2b−a, h + r_A = \frac{2bh}{2b - a}, and h2=4b2−a24,h^2 = \frac{4b^2 - a^2}{4}, the condition becomes b2=8ab22b−a,b^2 = \frac{8ab^2}{2b - a}, that is, 2b−a=8a,2b - a = 8a, so 2b=9a.2b = 9a.

For integer sides, a=2ta = 2t and b=9tb = 9t for a positive integer t,t, giving perimeter 20t.20t. The minimum is 20,20, achieved by the triangle with sides 9,9, 9,9, 2.2.

Problem 10#10
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