2007 AIME I Problem 15

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Concepts:equilateral trianglesimilaritytriangle areaquadratic

Difficulty rating: 3370

15.

Let ABCABC be an equilateral triangle, and let DD and FF be points on sides BCBC and AB,AB, respectively, with FA=5FA = 5 and CD=2.CD = 2. Point EE lies on side CACA such that DEF=60.\angle DEF = 60^\circ. The area of triangle DEFDEF is 143.14\sqrt{3}. The two possible values of the length of side ABAB are p±qr,p \pm q\sqrt{r}, where pp and qq are rational, and rr is an integer not divisible by the square of a prime. Find r.r.

Solution:

Let s=ABs = AB and t=AE.t = AE. Using the 6060^\circ angles at A,A, B,B, CC and the area formula 12xysin60:\frac{1}{2}xy\sin 60^\circ: [AEF]=345t,[AEF] = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4} \cdot 5t, [BFD]=34(s5)(s2),[BFD] = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}(s-5)(s-2), and [CDE]=342(st).[CDE] = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4} \cdot 2(s-t). Subtracting all three from [ABC]=34s2[ABC] = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}s^2 and simplifying, [DEF]=34(5(st)+2t10)=143,[DEF] = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}\bigl(5(s - t) + 2t - 10\bigr) = 14\sqrt{3}, so 5(st)+2t=66.5(s - t) + 2t = 66.

At E,E, the angles AEF\angle AEF and CED\angle CED sum to 18060=120,180^\circ - 60^\circ = 120^\circ, while in triangle AEFAEF the angles AEF\angle AEF and AFE\angle AFE also sum to 120.120^\circ. Hence AFE=CED,\angle AFE = \angle CED, and since A=C=60,\angle A = \angle C = 60^\circ, triangles AEFAEF and CDECDE are similar. Then AEAF=CDCE\frac{AE}{AF} = \frac{CD}{CE} gives t5=2st,\frac{t}{5} = \frac{2}{s - t}, so t(st)=10.t(s - t) = 10.

Substituting st=10ts - t = \frac{10}{t} into 5(st)+2t=665(s - t) + 2t = 66 gives 50t+2t=66,\frac{50}{t} + 2t = 66, or t233t+25=0,t^2 - 33t + 25 = 0, so t=33±9892.t = \frac{33 \pm \sqrt{989}}{2}. From 25t=33t\frac{25}{t} = 33 - t we get 10t=25(33t),\frac{10}{t} = \frac{2}{5}(33 - t), so s=t+10t=3t+665=231±398910.s = t + \frac{10}{t} = \frac{3t + 66}{5} = \frac{231 \pm 3\sqrt{989}}{10}. Both values yield valid configurations, so r=989.r = 989.

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