Proportional square

Geometry Level 3

A B C D ABCD is a square. A point G G is placed on the side B C BC so that B G G C = 1 3 \frac{BG}{GC} = \frac{1}{3} and the midpoint of the side C D CD is E E . Segments B E BE and A G AG have a common point X X .

If B X B E = a b \frac{BX}{BE} = \frac{a}{b} where a a and b b are positive coprime integers, Find a + b a + b .


The answer is 11.

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1 solution

Milan Milanic
Jan 13, 2016

Solution:

If A B C D \square ABCD 's side's length is a a , then points A A , B B , C C and D D are ( 0 , 0 ) (0, 0) , ( a , 0 ) (a, 0) , ( a , a ) (a, a) and ( 0 , a ) (0, a) , respectively. We will draw a segment F B FB , that is parallel to the A G AG and that the point F F lies on side A D AD (on extension). A point H H shall be the midpoint of the segment F B FB . Segments E H EH and A G AG have a common point T T . According to Thales's theorem H T H E = B X B E \frac{HT}{HE} = \frac{BX}{BE} . Point F ( 0 , a 4 ) F(0, -\frac{a}{4}) , therefore point H ( a 2 , a 8 ) H(\frac{a}{2}, -\frac{a}{8}) . Similarly, T ( a 2 , a 8 ) T(\frac{a}{2}, \frac{a}{8}) . Therefore, we will get that H T HT is 2 a 8 \frac{2a}{8} and H E HE is 9 a 8 \frac{9a}{8} . Then H T H E = B X B E = 2 9 \frac{HT}{HE} = \frac{BX}{BE} = \frac{2}{9} .

The answer is 11 11 .

An alternative solution can be found by extending A G AG to meet C D CD .

Xuming Liang - 5 years, 5 months ago

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I used trigonometry.

Kushagra Sahni - 5 years, 4 months ago

I Used vectors.

Raghav Rathi - 5 years, 4 months ago

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