2014 AMC 12A Problem 20

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 20 of the 2014 AMC 12A, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2014 AMC 12A solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:reflection (geometry)law of cosines optimization

Difficulty rating: 2110

20.

In $\triangle BAC,$ $\angle BAC=40^\circ,$ $AB=10,$ and $AC=6.$ Points $D$ and $E$ lie on $\overline{AB}$ and $\overline{AC},$ respectively. What is the minimum possible value of $BE+DE+CD?$

$6\sqrt3+3$

$\dfrac{27}{2}$

$8\sqrt3$

$14$

$3\sqrt3+9$

Solution:

Reflect $B$ across line $AC$ to get $B',$ and reflect $C$ across line $AB$ to get $C'.$ Then $BE=B'E$ and $CD=C'D,$ so $BE+DE+CD=B'E+ED+DC',$ a broken path from $B'$ to $C'.$

This is minimized when the path is the straight segment $B'C'.$ We have $AB'=AB=10,$ $AC'=AC=6,$ and $\angle B'AC'=3\cdot40^\circ=120^\circ.$

By the Law of Cosines, $B'C'^2=10^2+6^2-2\cdot10\cdot6\cos120^\circ=136+60=196,$ so $B'C'=14.$

Thus, the correct answer is D.

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