A rectangle is divided into four triangles, as shown, which have integer areas
If find the maximum possible area of the rectangle.
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
Let the horizontal side of the rectangle be a , the vertical side of the rectangle be b , the horizontal leg of triangle C be e , and the vertical leg of triangle C be f . We can see that e f = 2 C , ( a − e ) b = 2 B , and ( b − f ) a = 2 A . Multiplying the second and third equations together gives us a b ( a b − a f − e b + e f ) = 4 A B Adding the second and third equations together tells us that − a f − e b = 2 A + 2 B − 2 a b . Substituting this and the first equation into our other formula gives us a b ( a b + 2 A + 2 B − 2 a b + 2 C ) = 4 A B ⟹ ( a b ) 2 + ( − 2 A − 2 B − 2 C ) a b + 4 A B = 0 ⟹ a b = A + B + C ± ( A + B + C ) 2 − 4 A B We know that a b = A + B + C + D , so this simplifies to D 2 + 4 A B = ( A + B + C ) 2 . Because A + B + C is fixed, the entire rectangle will be maximized when D is maximized. Thus we need to find a D just under 2018 that satisfies D 2 + 4 A B = 2 0 1 8 2 . 2017 and 2015 don't work because those would make the left side odd and the right side even. 2016 doesn't work because 2 0 1 8 2 − 2 0 1 6 2 = 4 ∗ 2 0 1 7 and 2017 is prime so A and B would have to be 2017 and 1 which can't satisfy the equation A + B + C = 2 0 1 8 . The next possibility for D is 2014 which does work, so the answer is 2 0 1 8 + 2 0 1 4 = 4 0 3 2