Isosceles triangle ABC has a right angle at C. Point P is somewhere inside ABC such that PA=11, PB=7, and PC=6. Legs AC and BC have length s=
a
+
b
2
. Find a+b.
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@Sean Ty A little cleverer than your intended solution.
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Yep, well at least I learned something new today.
May I ask? How do you post a picture on a comment?
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LOL. My solution was a lot of vector bashing, using Mathematica to solve a nasty trig system of equations, and finally applying law of cosines. I think I spent about 6 hours on this ;pppp
Let B, A & P be (a,0), (0,a) & (x,y) resply. Then (a-x)^2+y^2=49, x^2+(y-a)^2=121, x^2+y^2=36 which can be solved simultaneously to obtain a=(85+42(2)^(1/2))^(1/2) or a+b =85 +42 =127
My solution was rotating the triangle 90 degrees counterclockwise about C, applying law of cosines several times. But I guess this works as well :) I won't be posting it because it needs a figure drawn for you to understand.
Just putting One Top 's solution in better way.
Let point C , A , B , P be ( 0 , 0 ) , ( 0 , a ) , ( a , 0 ) , ( x , y ) respectively.
Now we have following equations:
Starting with 2nd equation, x 2 − 2 a x + a 2 + y 2 = 4 9 ⇒ a 2 − 1 3 = 2 a x ⇒ x = 2 a a 2 − 1 3
Moving to 3rd equation, x 2 + y 2 − 2 a y + a 2 = 1 2 1 ⇒ a 2 − 8 5 = 2 a y ⇒ y = 2 a a 2 − 8 5
Substituting x and y in first equation,
4 a 2 ( a 2 − 1 3 ) 2 + ( a 2 − 8 5 ) 2 = 3 6
Bash bash bash
a 4 − 1 7 0 a 2 + 3 6 9 7 = 0 ⇒ a 2 = 8 5 ± 3 5 2 8 = 8 5 ± 4 2 2
8 5 + 4 2 = 1 2 7
Any idea why we ignored 8 5 − 4 2 2 ?
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Thanks Pranjal for putting my solution in a better way. In general, there are always two solutions possible to such problems. One corresponds to the point P inside the given triangle while the other is with the point P outside since √(85-42√2) would be a little over 5 units and that would mean that P is outside triangle ABC which is not the case as per the given diagram.
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Rotate △ A B C about point C to get △ B B ′ C .
Point P is also mapped to point P ′ .
Connect P P ′ ; note that C P = C P ′ . Also, ∠ P C P ′ = 9 0 ∘
Thus, P P ′ = 6 2 + 6 2 = 6 2 .
Now, notice that △ B P P ′ is right, in particular, ∠ B P P ′ = 9 0 ∘ because ( 6 2 ) 2 + ( 7 ) 2 = ( 1 1 ) 2 .
Thus, ∠ B P C = 4 5 ∘ + 9 0 ∘ = 1 3 5 ∘ .
Now using LoC on △ B P C wrt ∠ B P C , we see that s 2 = 6 2 + 7 2 − 2 ⋅ 6 ⋅ 7 ⋅ cos 1 3 5 ∘ = 8 5 + 4 2 2 .
Thus, s = 8 5 + 4 2 2 and our answer is 8 5 + 4 2 = 1 2 7 .