1971 AHSME Problems/Problem 26

Problem

$[asy] size(2.5inch); pair A, B, C, E, F, G; A = (0,3); B = (-1,0); C = (3,0); E = (0,0); F = (1,2); G = intersectionpoint(B--F,A--E); draw(A--B--C--cycle); draw(A--E); draw(B--F); label("$A$",A,N); label("$B$",B,W); label("$C$",C,dir(0)); label("$E$",E,S); label("$F$",F,NE); label("$G$",G,SE); //Credit to chezbgone2 for the diagram[/asy]$

In $\triangle ABC$ , point $F$ divides side $AC$ in the ratio $1:2$ . Let $E$ be the point of intersection of side $BC$ and $AG$ where $G$ is the midpoints of $BF$ . The point $E$ divides side $BC$ in the ratio

$\textbf{(A) }1:4\qquad \textbf{(B) }1:3\qquad \textbf{(C) }2:5\qquad \textbf{(D) }4:11\qquad \textbf{(E) }3:8$

Solution

We will use mass points to solve this problem. $AC$ is in the ratio $1:2,$ so we will assign a mass of $2$ to point $A,$ a mass of $1$ to point $C,$ and a mass of $3$ to point $F.$