Difference between revisions of "2023 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 17"

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~Steven Chen (Professor Chen Education Palace, www.professorchenedu.com)
 
~Steven Chen (Professor Chen Education Palace, www.professorchenedu.com)
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==See Also==
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{{AMC12 box|year=2023|ab=B|num-b=10|num-a=12}}
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Revision as of 19:32, 15 November 2023

Solution

The length of the side opposite to the angle with $120^\circ$ is longest. We denote its value as $x$.

Because three side lengths form an arithmetic sequence, the middle-valued side length is $\frac{x + 6}{2}$.

Following from the law of cosines, we have \begin{align*} 6^2 + \left( \frac{x + 6}{2} \right)^2  - 2 \cdot 6 \cdot \frac{x + 6}{2} \cdot \cos 120^\circ = x^2 . \end{align*}

By solving this equation, we get $x = 14$. Thus, $\frac{x + 6}{2} = 10$.

Therefore, the area of the triangle is \begin{align*} \frac{1}{2} 6 \cdot 10 \cdot \sin 120^\circ = \boxed{\textbf{(E) } 15 \sqrt{3}} . \end{align*}

~Steven Chen (Professor Chen Education Palace, www.professorchenedu.com)

See Also

2023 AMC 12B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 10
Followed by
Problem 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

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