I don't know why its not easy...

Geometry Level 2

In P Q R \triangle PQR , U U is a point on P R PR , S S on P Q PQ , and T T on Q R QR with U S R Q US || RQ , and U T P Q UT || PQ . The area of P S U \triangle PSU is 120 and that of T U R \triangle TUR is 270. What is the area of Q S T \triangle QST ?


Source: AMC 2018 intermediate division

170 160 180 150 200

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3 solutions

Richard Desper
Sep 12, 2019

There are many similar triangles in this diagram: S U P \triangle SUP , T R U \triangle TRU , and Q R P \triangle QRP are all similar to each other, thanks to the two pairs of parallel lines.

Now the ratio of the areas of two similar triangles is the square of the ratio of the side lengths of the corresponding sides. Let A A denote the areas of the various shapes. Thus, since A ( S U P ) = 4 9 A ( T R U ) A (\triangle SUP) = \frac{4}{9} A( \triangle TRU) , it follows that U P = 2 3 R U UP = \frac{2}{3} RU . Thus U P = 2 5 R P , UP = \frac{2}{5} RP, and 120 = A ( S U P ) = 4 25 A ( Q R P ) 120 = A( \triangle SUP) = \frac{4}{25} A( \triangle QRP) , and A ( Q R P ) = 750 A (\triangle QRP) = 750 .

After subtracting the areas of S U P \triangle SUP and T R U \triangle TRU , we see that the area of the parallelogram S Q T U SQTU is 750 120 270 = 360 750 - 120 - 270 = 360 . The two triangles S Q T \triangle SQT and T U S \triangle TUS are congruent and thus the area of each is 180 180 .

Nibedan Mukherjee
Feb 12, 2020

@Syed Hamza Khalid solution of "https://brilliant.org/discussions/thread/how-to-approach-this-question/?from_notification=14176037#comment-a3f5142823e92"

plz do check it!

nibedan mukherjee - 1 year, 4 months ago

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Thank you so much... its perfect ... loved it ... especially the diagram

Syed Hamza Khalid - 1 year, 4 months ago

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my pleasure, cheers!

nibedan mukherjee - 1 year, 4 months ago
Chew-Seong Cheong
Sep 13, 2019

We note that P S U \triangle PSU , T U R \triangle TUR , and P Q R \triangle PQR are similar. Then

U R 2 P U 2 = 270 120 = 9 4 U R P U = 3 2 \begin{aligned} \frac {UR^2}{PU^2} & = \frac {270}{120} = \frac 94 \\ \implies \frac {UR}{PU} & = \frac 32 \end{aligned}

Now, we have:

[ P Q R ] [ P S U ] = P R 2 P U 2 = ( P U + U R P U ) = ( 1 + 3 2 ) 2 = 25 4 [ ] denotes the area of . [ P Q R ] = 25 4 [ P S U ] = 25 4 × 120 = 750 \begin{aligned} \frac {[PQR]}{[PSU]} & = \frac {PR^2}{PU^2} = \left(\frac {PU+UR}{PU}\right) = \left(1+\frac 32 \right)^2 = \frac {25}4 & \small \color{#3D99F6} [\cdots ] \text{ denotes the area of }\cdots. \\ \implies [PQR] & = \frac {25}4 [PSU] = \frac {25}4 \times 120 = 750 \end{aligned}

we note that:

[ Q S T ] = [ Q T U S ] 2 = [ P Q R ] [ P S U ] [ T U R ] 2 = 750 120 270 2 = 180 \begin{aligned} [QST] & = \frac {[QTUS]}2 = \frac {[PQR]-[PSU]-[TUR]}2 = \frac {750-120-270}2 = \boxed{180}\end{aligned}

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