2012 AMC 12B Problem 20
Attempt Problem 20 of the 2012 AMC 12B 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 2012 AMC 12B solutions, or check the answer key.
All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
20.
A trapezoid has side lengths and The sum of all the possible areas of the trapezoid can be written in the form of where and are rational numbers and and are positive integers not divisible by the square of a prime. What is the greatest integer less than or equal to
Answer: D
Small Hint:
Slide one parallel side over: a trapezoid with parallel sides and legs gives a triangle with sides
Big Hint:
The triangle inequality forces the longer parallel side to be apply Heron’s formula in the cases
Solution:
For a trapezoid with parallel sides and legs translating a leg forms a triangle with sides and The triangle inequality forces the longer parallel side to be
If the triangle has sides with area and the trapezoid has area If the triangle has sides with area giving trapezoid area If the triangle has sides a right triangle, giving trapezoid area
The total is so
The greatest integer at most this value is
Thus, the correct answer is D.
Problem 20 in Other Years
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