Difference between revisions of "2019 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 25"
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Hence <math>\overrightarrow{G_{1}G_{2}} = \frac{1}{3}\vec{q}</math>, <math>\overrightarrow{G_{2}G_{3}} = -\frac{1}{3}\vec{p}</math>, and <math>\overrightarrow{G_{3}G_{1}} = \frac{1}{3}\vec{p} - \frac{1}{3}\vec{q}</math>. For <math>\triangle G_{1}G_{2}G_{3}</math> to be equilateral, we need <math>\left|\overrightarrow{G_{1}G_{2}}\right| = \left|\overrightarrow{G_{2}G_{3}}\right| \Rightarrow \left|\vec{p}\right| = \left|\vec{q}\right| \Rightarrow AB = AD</math>. Further, <math>\left|\overrightarrow{G_{1}G_{2}}\right| = \left|\overrightarrow{G_{1}G_{3}}\right| \Rightarrow \left|\vec{p}\right| = \left|\vec{p} - \vec{q}\right| = BD</math>. Hence we have <math>AB = AD = BD</math>, so <math>\triangle ABD</math> is equilateral. | Hence <math>\overrightarrow{G_{1}G_{2}} = \frac{1}{3}\vec{q}</math>, <math>\overrightarrow{G_{2}G_{3}} = -\frac{1}{3}\vec{p}</math>, and <math>\overrightarrow{G_{3}G_{1}} = \frac{1}{3}\vec{p} - \frac{1}{3}\vec{q}</math>. For <math>\triangle G_{1}G_{2}G_{3}</math> to be equilateral, we need <math>\left|\overrightarrow{G_{1}G_{2}}\right| = \left|\overrightarrow{G_{2}G_{3}}\right| \Rightarrow \left|\vec{p}\right| = \left|\vec{q}\right| \Rightarrow AB = AD</math>. Further, <math>\left|\overrightarrow{G_{1}G_{2}}\right| = \left|\overrightarrow{G_{1}G_{3}}\right| \Rightarrow \left|\vec{p}\right| = \left|\vec{p} - \vec{q}\right| = BD</math>. Hence we have <math>AB = AD = BD</math>, so <math>\triangle ABD</math> is equilateral. | ||
− | Now let the side length of <math>\triangle ABD</math> be <math>k</math>, and let <math>\angle BCD = \theta</math>. By the Law of Cosines in <math>\triangle BCD</math>, we have <math>k^2 = 2^2 + 6^2 - 2 \cdot 2 \cdot 6 \cdot \cos{\theta} = 40 - 24\cos{\theta}</math>. Since <math>\triangle ABD</math> is equilateral, its area is <math>\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}k^2 = 10\sqrt{3} - 6\sqrt{3}\cos{\theta}</math>, while the area of <math>\triangle BCD</math> is <math>\frac{1}{2} \cdot 2 \cdot 6 \cdot \sin{\theta} = 6 \sin{\theta}</math>. Thus the total area of <math>ABCD</math> is <math>10\sqrt{3} + 6\left(\sin{\theta} - \sqrt{3}\cos{\theta}\right) = 10\sqrt{3}+12\sin{\left(\theta-60^{\circ}\right)}</math>, where in the last step we used the subtraction formula for <math>\sin</math>. Observe that <math>\sin{\left(\theta-60^{\circ}\right)}</math> has maximum value <math>1</math> when e.g. <math>\theta = 150^{\circ}</math>, which is a valid configuration, so the maximum area is <math>10\sqrt{3} + 12(1) = \boxed{\textbf{(C) } 12+10\sqrt3}</math>. | + | Now let the side length of <math>\triangle ABD</math> be <math>k</math>, and let <math>\angle BCD = \theta</math>. By the Law of Cosines in <math>\triangle BCD</math>, we have <math>k^2 = 2^2 + 6^2 - 2 \cdot 2 \cdot 6 \cdot \cos{\theta} = 40 - 24\cos{\theta}</math>. Since <math>\triangle ABD</math> is equilateral, its area is <math>\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}k^2 = 10\sqrt{3} - 6\sqrt{3}\cos{\theta}</math>, while the area of <math>\triangle BCD</math> is <math>\frac{1}{2} \cdot 2 \cdot 6 \cdot \sin{\theta} = 6 \sin{\theta}</math>. Thus the total area of <math>ABCD</math> is <math>10\sqrt{3} + 6\left(\sin{\theta} - \sqrt{3}\cos{\theta}\right) = 10\sqrt{3}+12\sin{\left(\theta-60^{\circ}\right)}</math>, where in the last step we used the subtraction formula for <math>\sin</math>. Observe that <math>\sin{\left(\theta-60^{\circ}\right)}</math> has maximum value <math>1</math> when e.g. <math>\theta = 150^{\circ}</math>, which is a valid configuration, so the maximum area is <math>10\sqrt{3} + 12(1) = \boxed{\textbf{(C) } 12+10\sqrt3}</math>. |
==Solution 2== | ==Solution 2== |
Revision as of 08:30, 1 January 2020
Problem
Let be a convex quadrilateral with and Suppose that the centroids of and form the vertices of an equilateral triangle. What is the maximum possible value of ?
Solution 1 (vectors)
Place an origin at , and assign position vectors of and . Since is not parallel to , vectors and are linearly independent, so we can write for some constants and . Now, recall that the centroid of a triangle has position vector .
Thus the centroid of is ; the centroid of is ; and the centroid of is .
Hence , , and . For to be equilateral, we need . Further, . Hence we have , so is equilateral.
Now let the side length of be , and let . By the Law of Cosines in , we have . Since is equilateral, its area is , while the area of is . Thus the total area of is , where in the last step we used the subtraction formula for . Observe that has maximum value when e.g. , which is a valid configuration, so the maximum area is .
Solution 2
Let , , be the centroids of , , and respectively, and let be the midpoint of . , , and are collinear due to well-known properties of the centroid. Likewise, , , and are collinear as well. Because (as is also well-known) and , we have . This implies that is parallel to , and in terms of lengths, .
We can apply the same argument to the pair of triangles and , concluding that is parallel to and . Because (due to the triangle being equilateral), , and the pair of parallel lines preserve the angle, meaning . Therefore is equilateral.
At this point, we can finish as in Solution 1, or, to avoid using trigonometry, we can continue as follows:
Let , where due to the Triangle Inequality in . By breaking the quadrilateral into and , we can create an expression for the area of . We use the formula for the area of an equilateral triangle given its side length to find the area of and Heron's formula to find the area of .
After simplifying,
Substituting , the expression becomes
We can ignore the for now and focus on .
By the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality,
The RHS simplifies to , meaning the maximum value of is .
Thus the maximum possible area of is .
See Also
2019 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | |
Preceded by Problem 24 |
Followed by Last Problem |
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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