2021 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 17
Problem 17
Let be an isoceles trapezoid having parallel bases
and
with
Line segments from a point inside
to the vertices divide the trapezoid into four triangles whose areas are
and
starting with the triangle with base
and moving clockwise as shown in the diagram below. What is the ratio
Solution
Without loss let have vertices
,
,
, and
, with
and
. Also denote by
the point in the interior of
.
Let and
be the feet of the perpendiculars from
to
and
, respectively. Observe that
and
. Now using the formula for the area of a trapezoid yields
Thus, the ratio
satisfies
; solving yields
. - djmathman