Right within Equilateral

Geometry Level 3

In A B C \triangle ABC , A B = 3 2 AB= \dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2} , B C = 1 BC=1 and B = 9 0 \angle B = 90^{\circ} . P Q R PQR is an equilateral triangle with sides P Q PQ , Q R QR and R P RP passing through the points A A , B B an C C respectively and each having length 2 2 .

If the sum of the possible lengths of the segment B R BR be expressed as a b \dfrac{a}{b} , where a a , b b are coprime positive integers, find the value of a + b a+b


The answer is 41.

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1 solution

Discussions for this problem are now closed

Sagnik Saha
May 9, 2014

Since nobody is posting a solution (only 2 solvers till now though) and there are many who could not solve it, i think id better post one. So here it goes. First let Q B A = x \angle QBA = x . Then C B R = 9 0 x \angle CBR = 90^{\circ} - x . Note Q = R = P = 6 0 \angle Q = \angle R = \angle P = 60^{\circ}

Applying Law's of sines in Q B A \triangle QBA , we have

Q B sin ( 12 0 x ) = A B sin 6 0 = 3 2 s i n 6 0 = 1 \dfrac{QB}{\sin(120^{\circ} -x)} =\dfrac{AB}{\sin60^{\circ}}= \dfrac{\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}}{sin60^{\circ}} = 1

B Q = sin ( 12 0 x ) . . . . . . ( i ) \implies BQ = \sin(120^{\circ} -x) ...... (i)

Again applying Laws of sines in R B C \triangle RBC we will have after some simplification

B R = 2 sin ( 3 0 + x ) 3 . . . . . ( i i ) BR = \dfrac{2\sin(30^{\circ} + x)}{\sqrt{3}}..... (ii)

Adding ( i ) (i) and ( i i ) (ii) we get

B Q + B R = sin ( 12 0 x ) + 2 sin ( 3 0 + x ) 3 BQ + BR = \sin(120^{\circ} -x) + \dfrac{2\sin(30^{\circ} + x)}{\sqrt{3}}

2 = sin ( 12 0 x ) + 2 sin ( 3 0 + x ) 3 \implies 2 = \sin(120^{\circ} -x) + \dfrac{2\sin(30^{\circ} + x)}{\sqrt{3}}

2 3 = 3 sin ( 12 0 x ) + 2 sin ( 3 0 + x ) \implies 2\sqrt{3} = \sqrt{3} \sin(120^{\circ} -x) + 2\sin(30^{\circ} + x)

After breaking up the compound angles by the well known formula and furthur simplifations we have

4 3 = 5 cos x + 3 3 sin x 4\sqrt{3} = 5\cos x + 3\sqrt{3}\sin x 3 ( 4 3 sin x ) = 5 cos x \implies \sqrt{3}(4 - 3\sin x) = 5 \cos x

Now squaring both sides and using cos 2 x + s i n 2 x = 1 \cos^2 x + sin^2 x = 1 we have

52 sin 2 x 72 sin x + 23 = 0 52\sin^2 x - 72\sin x + 23 = 0 ( 2 sin x 1 ) ( 26 sin x 23 ) = 0 \implies (2\sin x - 1)(26\sin x - 23) = 0

Therefore either sin x = 1 2 x = 3 0 \sin x = \frac{1}{2} \implies x = 30^{\circ} or sin x = 23 26 \sin x = \frac{23}{26}

x = 3 0 x = 30^{\circ} implies C R B \triangle CRB is equilateral and hence B R = 1 \large{\boxed{BR =1}} . And if sin x = 23 26 \sin x = \frac{23}{26} , cos x = 7 3 26 \cos x = \dfrac{7\sqrt{3}}{26} . Therefore we have

B R = 2 3 ( cos x 2 + 3 sin x 2 ) BR = \dfrac{2}{\sqrt{3}} ( \dfrac{\cos x}{2} + \dfrac{\sqrt{3}\sin x}{2})

= 2 3 ( 7 3 2 × 26 + 3 × 23 2 × 20 = \dfrac{2}{\sqrt{3}} ( \dfrac{7\sqrt{3}}{2 \times 26} + \dfrac{\sqrt{3} \times 23}{2 \times 20}

= 7 26 + 23 26 = 30 26 = \dfrac{7}{26} + \dfrac{23}{26} = \dfrac{30}{26} B R = 15 13 \implies \large{\boxed{ BR = \dfrac{15}{13}}}

Hence the sum of all possible values of B R BR is 1 + 15 13 = 13 + 15 13 = 28 13 1 + \dfrac{15}{13} = \dfrac{13 + 15}{13} = \dfrac{28}{13}

Hence a + b = 28 + 13 = 41 a+b = 28 + 13 = \large{\boxed{41}}

GREAT u solved it correctly

Jayraj Kanabar - 7 years, 1 month ago

congrats dude

Asif Mohammed L - 7 years, 1 month ago

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