Find the equilateral triangle 🔺

Geometry Level 3

Given point A ( 0 , 0 ) A(0,0) , lines l ( y = 5 ) , m ( y = 3 ) l(y=5),m(y=3) , find the equilateral triangle A B C \triangle ABC with B B on l l , C C on m m , and B B with a smaller x x -coordinate.

If B ( x 1 , y 1 ) , C ( x 2 , y 2 ) B(x_1,y_1),C(x_2,y_2) , find x 1 y 2 + x 2 y 1 0.1858736 x_1y_2+x_2y_1-0.1858736 (because of a slight mistake in the answer :| sorry for the inconvenience)
Bonus: find the general formulas f , g , p , q ( x , y , y 1 , y 2 ) f,g,p,q(x,y,y_1,y_2) for x 1 , x 2 , y 1 , y 2 x_1,x_2,y_1,y_2 , with A ( x , y ) , l ( y = y 1 ) , m ( y = y 2 ) A(x,y),l(y=y_1),m(y=y_2) .

This question is not completely original.
PLEASE at least ATTEMPT to solve this problem because I’ve got only one attempt per ten views😅


The answer is 18.289335.

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1 solution

Jeff Giff
Jun 30, 2020

Since B B has a smaller x x -coordinate, it is near the LEFT .
With some logic reasoning, we get that B B is not just on line l l , but it is also on line m m rotated 6 0 60^\circ counterclockwise from point A A . Think! Why? (Hint: it is on an equilateral triangle, so B rotated 60 degrees clockwise is on m)
This works in the different direction for C C , which I will use in my approach.

Now we find that y = 5 y=5 rotated 60 60 degrees clockwise from the origin is 3 + k -\sqrt3+k . Why? (Hint: slope & tangent 60)
Call this line l l’ . Let’s find k k .
We know that the distance between l l’ and A A is 5 5 . Construct the line perpendicular to l l’ at P P . So A P = 5 \overline{AP}=5 . Solve for ( 1 3 n ) 2 + n 2 = 5. \sqrt{(\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}n)^2+n^2}=5. We get n = 5 3 2 n=\frac{5\sqrt{3}}{2} .

Now we solve for f ( x ) = 3 x + k f(x)=-\sqrt{3}x+k with f ( 5 3 2 ) = 2.5 f(\frac{5\sqrt{3}}{2})=2.5 .
We find k = 10 k=10 . Now since C C is on lines l l’ & m m , we can solve for C C : 3 x 2 + 10 = 3 -\sqrt3x_2+10=3 3 x 2 = 7 -\sqrt3x_2=-7 x 2 = 7 3 = 7 3 3 . x_2=\frac{7}{\sqrt{3}}=\frac{7\sqrt{3}}{3}. So C ( 7 3 3 , 3 ) C(\frac{7\sqrt{3}}{3},3) .
Above pic shows how far we’ve gone now :j (ignore the B B )

Now we solve for B B by rotating C C 60 60 degrees counterclockwise from A A .
We can use a formula , so B ( x 1 , y 1 ) B(x_1,y_1) is as follows:
x 1 = 7 3 3 cos 6 0 3 sin 6 0 x_1=\frac{7\sqrt{3}}{3}\cos 60^\circ-3\sin 60^\circ ,
y 1 = 7 3 3 sin 6 0 + 3 cos 6 0 y_1= \frac{7\sqrt{3}}{3}\sin 60^\circ+3\cos 60^\circ . So B = B ( 1 3 , 5 ) B=B(-\frac{1}{\sqrt3},5) .

So the answer is 32 3 = 18.4752... \boxed{\frac{32}{\sqrt3}}=\boxed{18.4752...}
BUT because of my mistake, the answer is 18.289335 18.289335 so please subtract the value stated in the question :P

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