Difference between revisions of "2000 AMC 12 Problems/Problem 19"

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Revision as of 19:35, 3 July 2013

Problem

In triangle $ABC$, $AB = 13$, $BC = 14$, $AC = 15$. Let $D$ denote the midpoint of $\overline{BC}$ and let $E$ denote the intersection of $\overline{BC}$ with the bisector of angle $BAC$. Which of the following is closest to the area of the triangle $ADE$?

$\text {(A)}\ 2 \qquad \text {(B)}\ 2.5 \qquad \text {(C)}\ 3 \qquad \text {(D)}\ 3.5 \qquad \text {(E)}\ 4$

Solution

By the Angle Bisector Theorem, $\frac{13}{BE} = \frac{15}{14 - BE} \Longrightarrow BE = 6.5$. Since $BD = 7$, then $DE = 0.5$.

By Heron's Formula, $[ABC] = \sqrt{21(6)(7)(8)} = 84$, so the height of $\triangle ABC$ from $A$ is $h = \frac{2 \cdot 84}{14} = 12$. Notice that the heights of $\triangle ABC$ and $\triangle ADE$ are the same, so $[ADE] = \frac{1}{2}(12)(0.5) = 3\ \mathrm{(C)}$.

See also

2000 AMC 12 (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 18
Followed by
Problem 20
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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