2001 AIME I Problems/Problem 7

Problem

Triangle $ABC$ has $AB=21$ , $AC=22$ and $BC=20$ . Points $D$ and $E$ are located on $\overline{AB}$ and $\overline{AC}$ , respectively, such that $\overline{DE}$ is parallel to $\overline{BC}$ and contains the center of the inscribed circle of triangle $ABC$ . Then $DE=m/n$ , where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers. Find $m+n$ .

Solution 1

$[asy] pointpen = black; pathpen = black+linewidth(0.7); pair B=(0,0), C=(20,0), A=IP(CR(B,21),CR(C,22)), I=incenter(A,B,C), D=IP((0,I.y)--(20,I.y),A--B), E=IP((0,I.y)--(20,I.y),A--C); D(MP("A",A,N)--MP("B",B)--MP("C",C)--cycle); D(MP("I",I,NE)); D(MP("E",E,NE)--MP("D",D,NW)); // D((A.x,0)--A,linetype("4 4")+linewidth(0.7)); D((I.x,0)--I,linetype("4 4")+linewidth(0.7)); D(rightanglemark(B,(A.x,0),A,30)); D(B--I--C); MP("20",(B+C)/2); MP("21",(A+B)/2,NW); MP("22",(A+C)/2,NE); [/asy]$

Let $I$ be the incenter of $\triangle ABC$ , so that $BI$ and $CI$ are angle bisectors of $\angle ABC$ and $\angle ACB$ respectively. Then, $\angle BID = \angle CBI = \angle DBI,$ so $\triangle BDI$ is isosceles, and similarly $\triangle CEI$ is isosceles. It follows that $DE = DB + EC$ , so the perimeter of $\triangle ADE$ is $AD + AE + DE = AB + AC = 43$ . Hence, the ratio of the perimeters of $\triangle ADE$ and $\triangle ABC$ is $\frac{43}{63}$ , which is the scale factor between the two similar triangles, and thus $DE = \frac{43}{63} \times 20 = \frac{860}{63}$ . Thus, $m + n = \boxed{923}$ .

Solution 2

$[asy] pointpen = black; pathpen = black+linewidth(0.7); pair B=(0,0), C=(20,0), A=IP(CR(B,21),CR(C,22)), I=incenter(A,B,C), D=IP((0,I.y)--(20,I.y),A--B), E=IP((0,I.y)--(20,I.y),A--C); D(MP("A",A,N)--MP("B",B)--MP("C",C)--cycle); D(incircle(A,B,C)); D(MP("I",I,NE)); D(MP("E",E,NE)--MP("D",D,NW)); D((A.x,0)--A,linetype("4 4")+linewidth(0.7)); D((I.x,0)--I,linetype("4 4")+linewidth(0.7)); D(rightanglemark(B,(A.x,0),A,30)); MP("20",(B+C)/2); MP("21",(A+B)/2,NW); MP("22",(A+C)/2,NE); [/asy]$

The semiperimeter of $ABC$ is $s = \frac{20 + 21 + 22}{2} = \frac{63}{2}$ . By Heron's formula, the area of the whole triangle is $A = \sqrt{s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)} = \frac{21\sqrt{1311}}{4}$ . Using the formula $A = rs$ , we find that the inradius is $r = \frac{A}{s} = \frac{\sqrt{1311}}6$ . Since $\triangle ADE \sim \triangle ABC$ , the ratio of the heights of triangles $ADE$ and $ABC$ is equal to the ratio between sides $DE$ and $BC$ . From $A=\frac{1}{2}bh$ , we find $h_{ABC} = \frac{21\sqrt{1311}}{40}$ . Thus, we have

$\frac{h_{ADE}}{h_{ABC}} = \frac{h_{ABC}-r}{h_{ABC}} = \frac{21\sqrt{1311}/40-\sqrt{1311}/6}{21\sqrt{1311}/40}=\frac{DE}{20}.$

Solving for $DE$ gives $DE=\frac{860}{63},$ so the answer is $m+n=\boxed{923}$ .

Or we have the area of the triangle as $S$ . Using the ratio of heights to ratio of bases of $ADE$ and $ABC$ $\frac {\frac {2S}{20}-\frac {2S}{63}}{\frac {2S}{20}}= \frac {DE}{BC(20)}$ from that it is easy to deduce that $DE=\frac{860}{63}$ .

Solution 3 (mass points)

$[asy] pointpen = black; pathpen = black+linewidth(0.7); pen d = linewidth(0.7) + linetype("4 4"); pair B=(0,0), C=(20,0), A=IP(CR(B,21),CR(C,22)), I=incenter(A,B,C), D=IP((0,I.y)--(20,I.y),A--B), E=IP((0,I.y)--(20,I.y),A--C); D(MP("A",A,N)--MP("B",B)--MP("C",C)--cycle); D(incircle(A,B,C)); D(MP("P",I,(1,2))); D(MP("E",E,NE)--MP("D",D,NW)); MP("20",(B+C)/2); MP("21",(A+B)/2,NW); MP("22",(A+C)/2,NE); /* construct angle bisectors */ path anglebisector (pair X, pair Y, pair Z, path K) { return Y -- IP(Y -- Y + 30 * (bisectorpoint(X,Y,Z)-Y) , K); } D(anglebisector(C,A,B,B--C), d); D(anglebisector(B,C,A,A--B),d); D(anglebisector(C,B,A,A--C),d); [/asy]$

Let $P$ be the incircle; then it is be the intersection of all three angle bisectors. Draw the bisector $AP$ to where it intersects $BC$ , and name the intersection $F$ .

Using the angle bisector theorem, we know the ratio $BF:CF$ is $21:22$ , thus we shall assign a weight of $22$ to point $B$ and a weight of $21$ to point $C$ , giving $F$ a weight of $43$ . In the same manner, using another bisector, we find that $A$ has a weight of $20$ . So, now we know $P$ has a weight of $63$ , and the ratio of $FP:PA$ is $20:43$ . Therefore, the smaller similar triangle $ADE$ is $43/63$ the height of the original triangle $ABC$ . So, $DE$ is $43/63$ the size of $BC$ . Multiplying this ratio by the length of $BC$ , we find $DE$ is $860/63 = m/n$ . Therefore, $m+n=\boxed{923}$ .

Solution 4 (Faster)

More directly than Solution 2, we have $DE=BC\left(\frac{h_a-r}{h_a}\right)=20\left(1-\frac{r}{\frac{[ABC]}{\frac{BC}{2}}}\right)=20\left(1-\frac{10r}{sr}\right)=20\left(1-\frac{10}{\frac{63}{2}}\right)=\frac{860}{63}\implies \boxed{923}.$

Solution 5

$[asy] pointpen = black; pathpen = black+linewidth(0.7); pen d = linewidth(0.7) + linetype("4 4"); pair B=(0,0), C=(20,0), A=IP(CR(B,21),CR(C,22)), I=incenter(A,B,C), D=IP((0,I.y)--(20,I.y),A--B), E=IP((0,I.y)--(20,I.y),A--C); D(MP("A",A,N)--MP("B",B)--MP("C",C)--cycle); D(incircle(A,B,C)); D(MP("P",I,(1,2))); D(MP("E",E,NE)--MP("D",D,NW)); MP("20",(B+C)/2); MP("21",(A+B)/2,NW); MP("22",(A+C)/2,NE); /* construct angle bisectors */ path anglebisector (pair X, pair Y, pair Z, path K) { return Y -- IP(Y -- Y + 30 * (bisectorpoint(X,Y,Z)-Y) , K); } D(anglebisector(C,A,B,B--C), d); D(anglebisector(B,C,A,A--B),d); D(anglebisector(C,B,A,A--C),d); [/asy]$

2001 AIME I (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 6	Followed by Problem 8
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions

Page

Toolbox

Search