AAA

Geometry Level 3

A triangle A B C ABC is divided into four regions by 3 3 lines parallel to B C BC . The lines divide A B AB into 4 4 equal segments.

If the second largest region has area 225 225 , find the area of A B C ABC .

A diagram if you need it:

Source: AIMO 2017


The answer is 720.

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2 solutions

Ethan Mandelez
Mar 26, 2021

By the AAA (angle-angle-angle) similarity test, we can say that triangles A B 1 C 1 , A B 2 C 2 , A B 3 C 3 , A B C AB_{1}C_{1}, AB_{2}C_{2}, AB_{3}C_{3}, ABC are similar.

Since the lines divide A B AB into 4 equal segments, the sides of the triangles are in the ratio 1 : 2 : 3 : 4 1:2:3:4 (i.e. Side Ratio). Therefore their areas are in the ratio 1 : 4 : 9 : 16 1:4:9:16 .

We know that region B 3 C 3 C 2 B 2 B_{3}C_{3}C_{2}B_{2} has area 225 225 . Thus if we let the area of triangle A B 1 C 1 = x AB_{1}C_{1} = x , then

225 = A B 3 C 3 A B 2 B 2 = 9 x 4 x = 5 x 225 = AB_{3}C_{3} - AB_{2}B_{2} = 9x - 4x = 5x

x = 225 5 = 45 x = \frac{225}{5} = 45

Therefore the area of triangle A B C ABC is 16 x = 16 × 45 = 720 16x = 16 \times 45 = 720

The answer is 720 .

Yuriy Kazakov
Mar 28, 2021

very nice approach :D

Ethan Mandelez - 2 months, 2 weeks ago

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