The following figure shows a regular rectangle A B C D in the x y -plane with altitude B H of triangle A B C . Points E ( 5 1 7 ; 5 2 9 ) , F ( 5 1 7 ; 5 9 ) , and G ( 1 ; 5 ) are the midpoints of line segments C H , B H , and A D respectively.
If the coordinates of the circumcenter of △ A B E can be represented as ( x 0 ; y 0 ) , find x 0 + y 0 .
Note: The figure is not drawn to scale.
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There are a few aproaches to this but this is a suggested solution I have come up with.
First we will find the coordinates of point A
We have H E = E C , H F = F B ⇒ E F = 2 1 C B = 2 1 D A = G A
⇒ the coordinates of A is ( 1 ; 1 ) .
We will find the coordinates of B
We have E F ∥ B C , B C ⊥ A B ⇒ E F ⊥ A B . We also have B H ⊥ A C ⇒ F is the orthocenter of Δ A B E
We have: A B ⊥ E F ( 0 ; − 4 ) and passes point A ( 1 ; 1 ) so the equation of A B is y = 1
Similarly we have B H ⊥ A E and passes point F so the equation of B H is x + 2 y − 7 = 0
B H ∩ A B = B so the coordinates of B is ( 5 ; 1 ) .
Now, let O ( x 0 ; y 0 ) be the circumcenter of Δ A B E , E K be the diameter of ( O ) .
We have A F ⊥ E B , K B ⊥ E B ⇒ A F ∥ K B and A K ⊥ A E , B F ⊥ A E ⇒ A K ∥ B F so we can imply that A K B F is a parallelogram. Let K F ∩ A B = I ⇒ point I is the midpoint of A B . We have found the coordinates of points A , B so we can find the coordinates of point I that is ( 3 ; 1 ) .
We have O is the midpoint of E K and I is the midpoint of F K so O I = 2 1 E F . We have had the coordinates of E , F , I so we can imply the coordinates of O that is ( 3 ; 3 ) .
In conclusion, x 0 + y 0 = 3 + 3 = 6
We have AG=EF=4 which means A is at a distance of 4 units from G(1,5). This means there are two possibilities for A. We can have A(1,1) or we can have A(1,9). Why has A(1,9) not been considered?
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You have to bear in mind that EF=GA is completely different from vector EF = vector GA. That's why there is one and only one such point A :)
From my solution, it seems the condition of BH perpendicular to AC is not needed. H could be any point on diagonal AC, still get the same answer.
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Can you post your solution here? I'll really appreciate that!
We know EF is parallel to BC, and equals half of BC. From that we get AG = 4, which leads to A=(1,1). Then slope of AE is 2, and we know BC = 2 EF = 8, so AB = 8/2 = 4, which gives B = (5,1). Now we know the midpoint of AB to be (3,1), so the perpendicular bisector of AB is x = 3. To find the circumcenter of ABE, we need to find another perpendicular bisector, and find where it intersects with x = 3. For this we try side AE, by midpoint formula we get the midpoint of AE to be (11/5, 17/5), slope of its perpendicular bisector is -1/2, so the equation for AE's perpendicular bisector is y - 17/5 = -1/2 (x-11/5). Solve this together with x = 3, gives us y = 3. Thus the circumcenter is at (3,3), and answer is 3+3 = 6.
Notice that throughout the solution process, we didn't use the fact that BH is perpendicular to AC, it could be any point on diagonal AC.
Nice but the problem never states that AB=1/2BC though. You just made that up and coincidently it gave out the right answer
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The slope of AE is 2, which equals BC/AB, since ABCD is a rectangle. So I didn't make that up! I'm not saying the answer is wrong, just that one condition is unnecessary :-)
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Well you're right. I never took that into account when I made this problem. I just wanted to challenge people to find the connection between orthocenter and circumcenter
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@Leah Jurgens – Ahh, now I see your intention about orthocenter and circumcenter. Great problem, thanks for making it!
And to be honest, if we have found A,B,E then the circumcenter is no problem to find. That's why I said there are a few aproaches but I suggested one
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Assuming A B and A D are parallel to the x - and y -axis respectively, then we note that E F is parallel to A D and B C . Since H E H C = H F H B = E F B C = 1 2 ⟹ B C = A D = 2 E F = 2 ( 5 2 9 − 5 9 ) = 8 .
Since G ( 1 , 5 ) is the midpoint of A D , ⟹ A ( 1 , 1 ) . Let A B = a , then B ( 1 + a , 1 ) . Let ∠ D A C = ∠ A C B = ∠ A B H = θ . Drop a perpendicular from F to A B at I . Then we have:
⎩ ⎪ ⎪ ⎨ ⎪ ⎪ ⎧ tan θ = A D C D = 8 a tan θ = B I F I = 1 + a − 5 1 7 5 9 − 1 = 5 a − 1 2 4 . . . ( 1 ) . . . ( 2 )
( 1 ) = ( 2 ) : 8 a 5 a 2 − 1 2 a − 3 2 ( 5 a + 8 ) ( a − 4 ) ⟹ a = 5 a − 1 2 4 = 0 = 0 = 4 Since a > 0
⟹ B ( 5 , 1 ) and since circumcenter is the meeting point of perpendicular side bisectors, x 0 = 2 x A + x B = 2 1 + 5 = 3 . Using Pythagorean theorem , we have:
( x 0 − x A ) 2 + ( y 0 − y A ) 2 ( 3 − 1 ) 2 + ( y 0 − 1 ) 2 ⟹ y 0 = ( x E − x 0 ) 2 + ( y E − y 0 ) 2 = ( 5 1 7 − 3 ) 2 + ( 5 2 9 − y 0 ) 2 = 3
⟹ x 0 + y 0 = 3 + 3 = 6