2010 AMC 12A Problem 17

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Concepts:equiangular polygonlaw of cosinesVieta’s Formulas

Difficulty rating: 1960

17.

Equiangular hexagon ABCDEFABCDEF has side lengths AB=CD=EF=1AB=CD=EF=1 and BC=DE=FA=r.BC=DE=FA=r. The area of ACE\triangle ACE is 70%70\% of the area of the hexagon. What is the sum of all possible values of r?r?

433\dfrac{4\sqrt{3}}{3}

103 \dfrac{10}{3}

44

174\dfrac{17}{4}

66

Solution:

Note that ACE\triangle ACE is equilateral. Using the Law of Cosines in ABC,\triangle ABC, we get AC2=r2+122rcos120=r2+r+1.AC^2=r^2+1^2-2r\cos120^\circ=r^2+r+1.

The area of ACE\triangle ACE is then 34(r2+r+1). \dfrac{\sqrt3}{4} (r^2 + r + 1).

The three corner triangles ABC,\triangle ABC, CDE,\triangle CDE, and EFA\triangle EFA each have area 121rsin120=r34.\frac12\cdot1\cdot r\cdot\sin120^\circ=\frac{r\sqrt3}{4}.

Thus the hexagon has area 34(r2+r+1)+3r34=34(r2+4r+1).\dfrac{\sqrt3}{4}(r^2+r+1)+3\cdot\dfrac{r\sqrt3}{4}=\dfrac{\sqrt3}{4}(r^2+4r+1).

The condition [ACE]=70%[ABCDEF][ACE]=70\%\cdot[ABCDEF] gives r2+r+1=710(r2+4r+1),r^2+r+1=\dfrac{7}{10}(r^2+4r+1), so r26r+1=0.r^2-6r+1=0.

By Vieta's formulas, the sum of the possible values of rr is 6.6.

Thus, E is the correct answer.

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