2010 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 17

The following problem is from both the 2010 AMC 12A #17 and 2010 AMC 10A #19, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

Equiangular hexagon $ABCDEF$ has side lengths $AB=CD=EF=1$ and $BC=DE=FA=r$ . The area of $\triangle ACE$ is $70\%$ of the area of the hexagon. What is the sum of all possible values of $r$ ?

$\textbf{(A)}\ \frac{4\sqrt{3}}{3} \qquad \textbf{(B)} \frac{10}{3} \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 4 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ \frac{17}{4} \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 6$

Solution 1

It is clear that $\triangle ACE$ is an equilateral triangle. From the Law of Cosines on $\triangle ABC$ , we get that $AC^2 = r^2+1^2-2r\cos{\frac{2\pi}{3}} = r^2+r+1$ . Therefore, the area of $\triangle ACE$ is $\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}(r^2+r+1)$ .

If we extend $BC$ , $DE$ and $FA$ so that $FA$ and $BC$ meet at $X$ , $BC$ and $DE$ meet at $Y$ , and $DE$ and $FA$ meet at $Z$ , we find that hexagon $ABCDEF$ is formed by taking equilateral triangle $XYZ$ of side length $r+2$ and removing three equilateral triangles, $ABX$ , $CDY$ and $EFZ$ , of side length $1$ . The area of $ABCDEF$ is therefore

$\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}(r+2)^2-\frac{3\sqrt{3}}{4} = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}(r^2+4r+1)$ .

Based on the initial conditions,

$\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}(r^2+r+1) = \frac{7}{10}\left(\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}\right)(r^2+4r+1)$

Simplifying this gives us $r^2-6r+1 = 0$ . By Vieta's Formulas we know that the sum of the possible value of $r$ is $\boxed{\textbf{(E)}\ 6}$ .

Solution 2

Step 1: Use Law of Cosines in the same manner as the previous solution to get $AC=\sqrt{r^2+r+1}$ .

Step 2: $\triangle{ABC}$ ~ $\triangle{CDE}$ ~ $\triangle{EFA}$ via SAS congruency. Using the formula $[ABC]=\frac{ab \sin C}{2}= \frac{r \sqrt{3}}{4}$ . The area of the hexagon is equal to $[ACE] + 3[ABC]$ . We are given that $70\%$ of this area is equal to $[ACE]$ ; solving for $AC$ in terms of $r$ gives $AC=\sqrt{7r}$ .

Step 3: $\sqrt{7r}=\sqrt{r^2+r+1} \implies r^2-6r+1=0$ and by Vieta's Formulas , we get $\boxed{\textbf{E}}$ .

Note: Since $r$ has to be positive we must first check that the discriminant is positive before applying Vieta's. And it indeed is.

Solution 3

Find the area of the triangle $ACE$ as how it was done in solution 1. Find the sum of the areas of the congruent triangles $ABC, CDE, EFA$ as how it was done in solution 2. The sum of these areas is the area of the hexagon, hence the areas of the congruent triangles $ABC, CDE, EFA$ is $30\%$ of the area of the hexagon. Hence $\frac{7}{3}$ times the latter is equal to the triangle $ACE$ . Hence $\frac{7}{3}\cdot\frac{3\sqrt{3}}{4}r=\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}(r^2+r+1)$ . We can simplify this to $7r=r^2+r+1\implies r^2-6r+1=0$ . By Vieta's, we get the sum of all possible values of $r$ is $-\frac{-6}{1}=6\text{ or } \boxed{\textbf{E}}$ . -vsamc (Edited by pinkbunny1228)

Proof Triangle ACE is Equilateral.

We know $\triangle{ABC}$ , $\triangle{CDE}$ , and $\triangle{EFA}$ are congruent by SAS, so the side opposite the 120 degree angle is also the same (since the triangles are congruent). Thus $\triangle{ACE}$ is equilateral. Q.E.D. ~mathboy282

Video Solution by the Beauty of Math

https://youtu.be/rsURe5Xh-j0?t=961

2010 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 18	Followed by Problem 20
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

2010 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 16	Followed by Problem 18
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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