2019 AMC 12B Problem 25

Attempt Problem 25 of the 2019 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 2019 AMC 12B solutions, or check the answer key.

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25.

Let ABCDABCD be a convex quadrilateral with BC=2BC=2 and CD=6.CD=6. Suppose that the centroids of ABC,\triangle ABC, BCD,\triangle BCD, and ACD\triangle ACD form the vertices of an equilateral triangle. What is the maximum possible value of the area of ABCD?ABCD?

2727

16316\sqrt3

12+10312+10\sqrt3

9+1239+12\sqrt3

3030

Answer: C
Concepts:centroidequilateral trianglelaw of cosinesoptimization
Difficulty rating: 2480
Solution:

The centroids are A+B+C3,\dfrac{A+B+C}{3},  B+C+D3,\ \dfrac{B+C+D}{3},  A+C+D3.\ \dfrac{A+C+D}{3}. Their pairwise differences are AD3, BA3, BD3,\dfrac{A-D}{3},\ \dfrac{B-A}{3},\ \dfrac{B-D}{3}, so an equilateral centroid triangle forces AB=BD=DA;AB=BD=DA; that is, ABD\triangle ABD is equilateral with side s=BD.s=BD.

Splitting along BD,BD, [ABCD]=[ABD]+[BCD]=34s2+1226sinC, \begin{gathered} [ABCD]=[ABD]+[BCD] \\ =\dfrac{\sqrt3}{4}s^2 \\ {}+\dfrac12\cdot2\cdot6\sin C, \end{gathered} where C=BCD.C=\angle BCD. By the Law of Cosines s2=4024cosC,s^2=40-24\cos C, so [ABCD]=10363cosC+6sinC. \begin{gathered} [ABCD]=10\sqrt3 \\ {}-6\sqrt3\cos C+6\sin C. \end{gathered}

The expression 6sinC63cosC6\sin C-6\sqrt3\cos C has maximum 62+(63)2=12,\sqrt{6^2+(6\sqrt3)^2}=12, so the greatest area is 103+12=12+103.10\sqrt3+12=12+10\sqrt3. Equality occurs at C=150;C=150^\circ; constructing BCD\triangle BCD with that angle and placing equilateral ABD\triangle ABD on the opposite side of BD\overline{BD} produces a convex quadrilateral, so the maximum is attainable.

Thus, C is the correct answer.

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