2018 AIME II Problems/Problem 7
Problem
Triangle has side lengths , , and . Points are on segment with between and for , and points are on segment with between and for . Furthermore, each segment , , is parallel to . The segments cut the triangle into regions, consisting of trapezoids and triangle. Each of the regions has the same area. Find the number of segments , , that have rational length.
Solution
Solution 1
For each between and , the area of the trapezoid with as its bottom base is the difference between the areas of two triangles, both similar to . Let be the length of segment . The area of the trapezoid with bases and is times the area of . (This logic also applies to the topmost triangle if we notice that .) However, we also know that the area of each shape is times the area of . We then have . Simplifying, . However, we know that , so , and in general, and . The smallest that gives a rational is , so is rational if and only if for some integer .The largest such that is less than is , so has possible values.
Solution by zeroman
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