2007 AIME II Problems/Problem 3

Problem

Square $ABCD$ has side length $13$ , and points $E$ and $F$ are exterior to the square such that $BE=DF=5$ and $AE=CF=12$ . Find $EF^{2}$ . $[asy]unitsize(0.2 cm); pair A, B, C, D, E, F; A = (0,13); B = (13,13); C = (13,0); D = (0,0); E = A + (12*12/13,5*12/13); F = D + (5*5/13,-5*12/13); draw(A--B--C--D--cycle); draw(A--E--B); draw(C--F--D); dot("$A$", A, W); dot("$B$", B, dir(0)); dot("$C$", C, dir(0)); dot("$D$", D, W); dot("$E$", E, N); dot("$F$", F, S);[/asy]$

Solution

Solution 1

Let $\angle FCD = \alpha$ , so that $FB = \sqrt{12^2 + 13^2 + 2\cdot12\cdot13\sin(\alpha)} = \sqrt{433}$ . By the diagonal, $DB = 13\sqrt{2}, DB^2 = 338$ .

The sum of the squares of the sides of a parallelogram is the sum of the squares of the diagonals. $EF^2 = 2\cdot(5^2 + 433) - 338 = 578.$

Solution 2

Extend $\overline{AE}, \overline{DF}$ and $\overline{BE}, \overline{CF}$ to their points of intersection. Since $\triangle ABE \cong \triangle CDF$ and are both $5-12-13$ right triangles, we can come to the conclusion that the two new triangles are also congruent to these two (use ASA, as we know all the sides are $13$ and the angles are mostly complementary). Thus, we create a square with sides $5 + 12 = 17$ .

$[asy]unitsize(0.25 cm); pair A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H; A = (0,13); B = (13,13); C = (13,0); D = (0,0); E = A + (12*12/13,5*12/13); F = D + (5*5/13,-5*12/13); G = rotate(90,(A + C)/2)*(E); H = rotate(90,(A + C)/2)*(F); draw(A--B--C--D--cycle); draw(E--G--F--H--cycle); dot("$A$", A, N); dot("$B$", B, dir(0)); dot("$C$", C, S); dot("$D$", D, W); dot("$E$", E, N); dot("$F$", F, S); dot("$G$", G, W); dot("$H$", H, dir(0));[/asy]$

$\overline{EF}$ is the diagonal of the square, with length $17\sqrt{2}$ ; the answer is $EF^2 = (17\sqrt{2})^2 = 578$ .

Solution 3

A slightly more analytic/brute-force approach:

Drop perpendiculars from $E$ and $F$ to $I$ and $J$ , respectively; construct right triangle $EKF$ with right angle at K and $EK || BC$ . Since $2[CDF]=DF*CF=CD*JF$ , we have $JF=5\times12/13 = \frac{60}{13}$ . Similarly, $EI=\frac{60}{13}$ . Since $\triangle DJF \sim \triangle DFC$ , we have $DJ=\frac{5JF}{12}=\frac{25}{13}$ .

Now, we see that $FK=DC-(DJ+IB)=DC-2DJ=13-\frac{50}{13}=\frac{119}{13}$ . Also, $EK=BC+(JF+IE)=BC+2JF=13+\frac{120}{13}=\frac{289}{13}$ . By the Pythagorean Theorem, we have $EF=\sqrt{\left(\frac{289}{13}\right)^2+\left(\frac{119}{13} \right)^2}=\frac{\sqrt{(17^2)(17^2+7^2)}}{13}$ $=\frac{17\sqrt{338}}{13}=\frac{17(13\sqrt{2})}{13}=17\sqrt{2}$ . Therefore, $EF^2=(17\sqrt{2})^2=578$ .

Solution 4

Based on the symmetry, we know that $F$ is a reflection of $E$ across the center of the square, which we will denote as $O$ . Since $\angle BEA$ and $\angle AOB$ are right, we can conclude that figure $AOBE$ is a cyclic quadrilateral. Pythagorean Theorem yields that $BO=AO=\frac{13\sqrt{2}}{2}$ . Now, using Ptolemy's Theorem, we get that $AO\cdot BE + BO\cdot AE = AB\cdot AO$ $\frac{13\sqrt{2}}{2}\cdot 5+\frac{13\sqrt{2}}{2}\cdot 12 = 13\cdot OE$ $OE=\frac{17\sqrt{2}}{2}$ Now, since we stated in the first step that $F$ is a reflection of $E$ across $O$ , we can say that $EF=2EO=17\sqrt{2}$ . This gives that $EF^2=(17\sqrt{2})^2=578$ AWD with this bash solution

Solution 5

Coordinate bash

2007 AIME II (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 2	Followed by Problem 4
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