2019 AMC 10B Problem 15

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 15 of the 2019 AMC 10B, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2019 AMC 10B solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:right trianglePythagorean Theoremsystem of equations

Difficulty rating: 1820

15.

Right triangles T1T_1 and T2,T_2, have areas of 1 and 2, respectively. A side of T1T_1 is congruent to a side of T2,T_2, and a different side of T1T_1 is congruent to a different side of T2.T_2. What is the square of the product of the lengths of the other (third) sides of T1T_1 and T2?T_2?

283 \dfrac{28}{3}

10 10

323 \dfrac{32}{3}

343 \dfrac{34}{3}

12 12

Solution:

Let the two shared side lengths be aba\le b. One triangle can have legs aa and bb, while the other has side lengths aa, b2a2\sqrt{b^2-a^2}, and hypotenuse bb.

The product of the two non-shared third sides is a2+b2b2a2\sqrt{a^2+b^2}\sqrt{b^2-a^2}, whose square is b4a4b^4-a^4.

Using the areas, ab2=2\dfrac{ab}{2}=2 and ab2a22=1\dfrac{a\sqrt{b^2-a^2}}{2}=1. Hence a2b2=16a^2b^2=16 and a2(b2a2)=4a^2(b^2-a^2)=4, so a4=12a^4=12. Then b4=25612=643b^4=\dfrac{256}{12}=\dfrac{64}{3}, and b4a4=283b^4-a^4=\dfrac{28}{3}. Thus, A is the correct answer.

Problem 15 in Other Years