2019 AIME II Problem 15

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 15 of the 2019 AIME II, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2019 AIME II solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:power of a pointsimilaritylaw of cosines

Difficulty rating: 3370

15.

In acute triangle ABC,ABC, points PP and QQ are the feet of the perpendiculars from CC to AB\overline{AB} and from BB to AC,\overline{AC}, respectively. Line PQPQ intersects the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC in two distinct points, XX and Y.Y. Suppose XP=10,XP = 10, PQ=25,PQ = 25, and QY=15.QY = 15. The value of ABACAB \cdot AC can be written in the form mn,m\sqrt{n}, where mm and nn are positive integers, and nn is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find m+n.m + n.

Solution:

Write b=AC,b = AC, c=AB,c = AB, a=BC,a = BC, and k=cosA.k = \cos A. Right triangles APCAPC and AQBAQB give AP=bkAP = bk and AQ=ck,AQ = ck, so triangle APQAPQ is similar to triangle ACBACB with ratio k,k, whence PQ=ak=25.PQ = ak = 25. The points on the line occur in the order X,P,Q,Y,X, P, Q, Y, so the power of PP gives XPPY=1040=400=APPB,XP \cdot PY = 10 \cdot 40 = 400 = AP \cdot PB, and the power of QQ gives YQQX=1535=525=AQQC.YQ \cdot QX = 15 \cdot 35 = 525 = AQ \cdot QC. With u=bku = bk and v=ckv = ck these read u(cu)=400,v(bv)=525,u(c - u) = 400, \qquad v(b - v) = 525, that is, wu2=400w - u^2 = 400 and wv2=525,w - v^2 = 525, where w=uvk=bck.w = \frac{uv}{k} = bck.

By the law of cosines, a2=b2+c22bck,a^2 = b^2 + c^2 - 2bck, so a2k2=u2+v22uvk=625.a^2k^2 = u^2 + v^2 - 2uvk = 625. Substituting u2=w400u^2 = w - 400 and v2=w525,v^2 = w - 525, and uv=wk,uv = wk, gives 2w9252wk2=625,2w - 925 - 2wk^2 = 625, so wk2=w775.wk^2 = w - 775. Then (uv)2=w2k2=w(w775)=(w400)(w525),(uv)^2 = w^2k^2 = w(w - 775) = (w - 400)(w - 525), which simplifies to 150w=210000,150w = 210000, so w=1400w = 1400 and k2=14007751400=2556.k^2 = \frac{1400 - 775}{1400} = \frac{25}{56}.

Thus k=5214k = \frac{5}{2\sqrt{14}} and bc=wk=14002145=56014,bc = \frac{w}{k} = 1400 \cdot \frac{2\sqrt{14}}{5} = 560\sqrt{14}, so m+n=560+14=574.m + n = 560 + 14 = 574.

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