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Revision as of 21:05, 18 December 2017

Problem

The parallelogram bounded by the lines $y=ax+c$, $y=ax+d$, $y=bx+c$, and $y=bx+d$ has area $18$. The parallelogram bounded by the lines $y=ax+c$, $y=ax-d$, $y=bx+c$, and $y=bx-d$ has area $72$. Given that $a$, $b$, $c$, and $d$ are positive integers, what is the smallest possible value of $a+b+c+d$?

$\mathrm {(A)} 13\qquad \mathrm {(B)} 14\qquad \mathrm {(C)} 15\qquad \mathrm {(D)} 16\qquad \mathrm {(E)} 17$

Solution

Plotting the parallelogram on the coordinate plane, the 4 corners are at $(0,c),(0,d),\left(\frac{d-c}{a-b},\frac{ad-bc}{a-b}\right),\left(\frac{c-d}{a-b},\frac{bc-ad}{a-b}\right)$. Because $72= 4\cdot 18$, we have that $4(c-d)\left(\frac{c-d}{a-b}\right) = (c+d)\left(\frac{c+d}{a-b}\right)$ or that $2(c-d)=c+d$, which gives $c=3d$ (consider a homothety, or dilation, that carries the first parallelogram to the second parallelogram; because the area increases by $4\times$, it follows that the stretch along the diagonal, or the ratio of side lengths, is $2\times$). The area of triangular half of the parallelogram on the right side of the y-axis is given by $9 = \frac{1}{2} (c-d)\left(\frac{d-c}{a-b}\right)$, so substituting $c = 3d$:

\[\frac{1}{2} (c-d)\left(\frac{c-d}{a-b}\right) = 9 \quad \Longrightarrow \quad 2d^2 = 9(a-b)\]

Thus $3|d$, and we verify that $d = 3$, $a-b = 2 \Longrightarrow a = 3, b = 1$ will give us a minimum value for $a+b+c+d$. Then $a+b+c+d = 3 + 1 + 9 + 3 = \boxed{\mathbf{(D)} 16}$.

Solution 2

The key to this solution is that area is invariant under translation. By suitably shifting the plane, the problem is mapped to the lines $c,d,(b-a)x+c,(b-a)x+d$ and $c,-d,(b-a)x+c,(b-a)x-d$. Now, the area of the parallelogram contained by is the former is equal to the area of a rectangle with sides $d-c$ and $\frac{d-c}{b-a}$, $\frac{(d-c)^2}{b-a}=18$, and the area contained by the latter is $\frac{(c+d)^2}{b-a}=72$. Thus, $d=3c$ and $b-a$ must be even if the former quantity is to equal $18$. $c^2=18(b-a)$ so $c$ is a multiple of $3$. Putting this all together, the minimal solution for $(a,b,c,d)=(3,1,3,9)$, so the sum is $\boxed{\textbf{(D)} 16}$.

See also

2007 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by
Problem 19 		Followed by
Problem 21
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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