Let and be two parabolas with distinct directrices and and distinct foci and respectively.
It is known that , lies on , and lies on . The two parabolas intersect at distinct points and . Given that , the value of can be expressed as , for relatively prime positive integers and . Find .
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Let the parabola P 1 be represented by x 2 = 4 p y (with directrix l 1 : y = − p and focus F 1 ( 0 , p ) ) . If the focus F 2 ( 1 , p ) lies on P 1 , then we obtain: 1 = 4 p 2 ⇒ p = 2 1 , or x 2 = 2 y for P 1 .
For the parabola P 2 , it must be concave down in order to satisfy l 2 ∥ l 1 ∥ F 1 F 2 and l 2 = l 1 . This requires the form: − ( x − 1 ) 2 = 4 q [ y − ( 1 / 2 + q ) ] , and if F 1 ( 0 , 1 / 2 ) ∈ P 2 then we obtain:
− ( 0 − 1 ) 2 = 4 q [ 1 / 2 − ( 1 / 2 + q ) ] ⇒ − 1 = − 4 q 2 ⇒ q = 2 1
or − ( x − 1 ) 2 = 2 ( y − 1 ) for P 2 . We now turn to solving for the intersection points A and B , which compute to:
− ( x − 1 ) 2 = 2 y − 2 ⇒ − x 2 + 2 x − 1 = x 2 − 2 ⇒ 0 = 2 x 2 − 2 x − 1 ⇒ x = 4 2 ± 4 − 4 ( 2 ) ( − 1 ) ⇒ x = 2 1 ± 3 .
and y = 2 x 2 ⇒ y = 2 1 ± 4 3 . Thus, we have the points A ( 2 1 + 3 , 2 1 + 4 3 ) and B ( 2 1 − 3 , 2 1 − 4 3 ) , and:
A B 2 = [ 2 1 + 3 − 2 1 − 3 ] 2 + [ 2 1 + 4 3 − 2 1 + 4 3 ] 2 = ( 3 ) 2 + ( 2 3 ) 2 = 3 + 4 3 = 4 1 5 = n m
Finally, we obtain 1 0 0 0 m + n = 1 0 0 0 ( 1 5 ) + 4 = 1 5 0 4 .