2018 AIME I Problem 15
Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 15 of the 2018 AIME I, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2018 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.
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Difficulty rating: 3500
15.
David found four sticks of different lengths that can be used to form three non-congruent convex cyclic quadrilaterals, which can each be inscribed in a circle with radius Let denote the measure of the acute angle made by the diagonals of quadrilateral and define and similarly. Suppose that and All three quadrilaterals have the same area which can be written in the form where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find
Solution:
The four sticks are chords of the unit circle subtending fixed arcs with The three quadrilaterals are the three distinct cyclic orders of the sides: say has arcs in order then (order ) and (order ) are the other two. The angle between the diagonals of a cyclic quadrilateral is half the sum of the arcs subtended by either pair of opposite sides, so and
In a circle of radius a chord spanning an arc has length The diagonals of span the arcs and so their lengths are and Hence a formula symmetric in the three quadrilaterals, which is why all three areas are equal.
Therefore and
Problem 15 in Other Years
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