# 2001 AIME II Problems/Problem 7

## Problem

Let $\triangle{PQR}$ be a right triangle with $PQ = 90$, $PR = 120$, and $QR = 150$. Let $C_{1}$ be the inscribed circle. Construct $\overline{ST}$ with $S$ on $\overline{PR}$ and $T$ on $\overline{QR}$, such that $\overline{ST}$ is perpendicular to $\overline{PR}$ and tangent to $C_{1}$. Construct $\overline{UV}$ with $U$ on $\overline{PQ}$ and $V$ on $\overline{QR}$ such that $\overline{UV}$ is perpendicular to $\overline{PQ}$ and tangent to $C_{1}$. Let $C_{2}$ be the inscribed circle of $\triangle{RST}$ and $C_{3}$ the inscribed circle of $\triangle{QUV}$. The distance between the centers of $C_{2}$ and $C_{3}$ can be written as $\sqrt {10n}$. What is $n$?

## Solution

### Solution 1 (analytic)

$[asy] pointpen = black; pathpen = black + linewidth(0.7); pair P = (0,0), Q = (90, 0), R = (0, 120), S=(0, 60), T=(45, 60), U = (60,0), V=(60, 40), O1 = (30,30), O2 = (15, 75), O3 = (70, 10); D(MP("P",P)--MP("Q",Q)--MP("R",R,W)--cycle); D(MP("S",S,W) -- MP("T",T,NE)); D(MP("U",U) -- MP("V",V,NE)); D(O2 -- O3, rgb(0.2,0.5,0.2)+ linewidth(0.7) + linetype("4 4")); D(CR(D(O1), 30)); D(CR(D(O2), 15)); D(CR(D(O3), 10)); [/asy]$

Let $P = (0,0)$ be at the origin. Using the formula $A = rs$ on $\triangle PQR$, where $r_{1}$ is the inradius (similarly define $r_2, r_3$ to be the radii of $C_2, C_3$), $s = \frac{PQ + QR + RP}{2} = 180$ is the semiperimeter, and $A = \frac 12 bh = 5400$ is the area, we find $r_{1} = \frac As = 30$. Or, the inradius could be directly by using the formula $\frac{a+b-c}{2}$, where $a$ and $b$ are the legs of the right triangle and $c$ is the hypotenuse. (This formula should be used only for right triangles.) Thus $ST, UV$ lie respectively on the lines $y = 60, x = 60$, and so $RS = 60, UQ = 30$.

Note that $\triangle PQR \sim \triangle STR \sim \triangle UQV$. Since the ratio of corresponding lengths of similar figures are the same, we have

$$\frac{r_{1}}{PR} = \frac{r_{2}}{RS} \Longrightarrow r_{2} = 15\ \text{and} \ \frac{r_{1}}{PQ} = \frac{r_{3}}{UQ} \Longrightarrow r_{3} = 10.$$

Let the centers of $\odot C_2, C_3$ be $O_2 = (0 + r_{2}, 60 + r_{2}) = (15, 75), O_3 = (60 + r_{3}, 0 + r_{3}) = (70,10)$, respectively; then by the distance formula we have $O_2O_3 = \sqrt{55^2 + 65^2} = \sqrt{10 \cdot 725}$. Therefore, the answer is $n = \boxed{725}$.

### Solution 2 (synthetic)

$[asy] pointpen = black; pathpen = black + linewidth(0.7); pair P = (0,0), Q = (90, 0), R = (0, 120), S=(0, 60), T=(45, 60), U = (60,0), V=(60, 40), O1 = (30,30), O2 = (15, 75), O3 = (70, 10); D(MP("P",P)--MP("Q",Q)--MP("R",R,W)--cycle); D(MP("S",S,W) -- MP("T",T,NE)); D(MP("U",U) -- MP("V",V,NE)); D(O2 -- O3, rgb(0.2,0.5,0.2)+ linewidth(0.7) + linetype("4 4")); D(CR(D(O1), 30)); D(CR(D(O2), 15)); D(CR(D(O3), 10)); pair A2 = IP(incircle(R,S,T), Q--R), A3 = IP(incircle(Q,U,V), Q--R); D(D(MP("A_2",A2,NE)) -- O2, linetype("4 4")+linewidth(0.6)); D(D(MP("A_3",A3,NE)) -- O3 -- foot(O3, A2, O2), linetype("4 4")+linewidth(0.6)); [/asy]$

We compute $r_1 = 30, r_2 = 15, r_3 = 10$ as above. Let $A_1, A_2, A_3$ respectively the points of tangency of $C_1, C_2, C_3$ with $QR$.

By the Two Tangent Theorem, we find that $A_{1}Q = 60$, $A_{1}R = 90$. Using the similar triangles, $RA_{2} = 45$, $QA_{3} = 20$, so $A_{2}A_{3} = QR - RA_2 - QA_3 = 85$. Thus $(O_{2}O_{3})^{2} = (15 - 10)^{2} + (85)^{2} = 7250\implies n=\boxed{725}$.

### Solution 3

The radius of an incircle is $r=A_t/\text{semiperimeter}$. The area of the triangle is equal to $\frac{90\times120}{2} = 5400$ and the semiperimeter is equal to $\frac{90+120+150}{2} = 180$. The radius, therefore, is equal to $\frac{5400}{180} = 30$. Thus using similar triangles the dimensions of the triangle circumscribing the circle with center $C_2$ are equal to $120-2(30) = 60$, $\frac{1}{2}(90) = 45$, and $\frac{1}{2}\times150 = 75$. The radius of the circle inscribed in this triangle with dimensions $45\times60\times75$ is found using the formula mentioned at the very beginning. The radius of the incircle is equal to $15$.

Defining $P$ as $(0,0)$, $C_2$ is equal to $(60+15,15)$ or $(75,15)$. Also using similar triangles, the dimensions of the triangle circumscribing the circle with center $C_3$ are equal to $90-2(30)$, $\frac{1}{3}\times120$, $\frac{1}{3}\times150$ or $30,40,50$. The radius of $C_3$ by using the formula mentioned at the beginning is $10$. Using $P$ as $(0,0)$, $C_3$ is equal to $(10, 60+10)$ or $(10,70)$. Using the distance formula, the distance between $C_2$ and $C_3$: $\sqrt{(75-10)^2 +(15-70)^2}$ this equals $\sqrt{7250}$ or $\sqrt{725\times10}$, thus $n$ is $\boxed{725}$.