2015 AIME I Problem 11

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 11 of the 2015 AIME I, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2015 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.

All of the real AMC 8, AMC 10, AMC 12, and AIME problems in our complete solution collection are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

Concepts:incircle, incenter, and inradiusisosceles triangletrigonometric identitydivisibility

Difficulty rating: 3160

11.

Triangle ABCABC has positive integer side lengths with AB=AC.AB = AC. Let II be the intersection of the bisectors of B\angle B and C.\angle C. Suppose BI=8.BI = 8. Find the smallest possible perimeter of ABC.\triangle ABC.

Solution:

Let MM be the midpoint of BC;\overline{BC}; by symmetry A,A, I,I, and MM are collinear with AMBC.AM \perp BC. With a=ABa = AB and b=BM,b = BM, right triangles ABMABM and IBMIBM give cosABM=ba\cos\angle ABM = \frac{b}{a} and cosIBM=b8.\cos\angle IBM = \frac{b}{8}. Since BIBI bisects ABM,\angle ABM, the double-angle formula yields ba=2(b8)21,soa=32bb232.\frac{b}{a} = 2\left(\frac{b}{8}\right)^2 - 1, \qquad \text{so} \qquad a = \frac{32b}{b^2 - 32}.

Writing c=BC=2b,c = BC = 2b, this becomes a=64cc2128.a = \frac{64c}{c^2 - 128}. We need c2>128,c^2 \gt 128, so c12,c \ge 12, while cosIBM=b8<1\cos\angle IBM = \frac{b}{8} \lt 1 forces c<16.c \lt 16. Testing c=12,13,14,15,c = 12, 13, 14, 15, only c=12c = 12 makes aa an integer, namely a=76816=48.a = \frac{768}{16} = 48.

The triangle with sides 48,48, 48,48, 1212 satisfies all the conditions, and its perimeter is 48+48+12=108.48 + 48 + 12 = 108.

← Problem 10Full ExamProblem 12

Problem 11 in Other Years