# Difference between revisions of "2004 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 8"

The following problem is from both the 2004 AMC 12A #8 and 2004 AMC 10A #9, so both problems redirect to this page.

## Problem

In the overlapping triangles $\triangle{ABC}$ and $\triangle{ABE}$ sharing common side $AB$, $\angle{EAB}$ and $\angle{ABC}$ are right angles, $AB=4$, $BC=6$, $AE=8$, and $\overline{AC}$ and $\overline{BE}$ intersect at $D$. What is the difference between the areas of $\triangle{ADE}$ and $\triangle{BDC}$?

$\mathrm {(A)}\ 2 \qquad \mathrm {(B)}\ 4 \qquad \mathrm {(C)}\ 5 \qquad \mathrm {(D)}\ 8 \qquad \mathrm {(E)}\ 9 \qquad$

## Solution

### Solution 1

Since $AE \perp AB$ and $BC \perp AB$, $AE \parallel BC$. By alternate interior angles and AA~, we find that $\triangle ADE \sim \triangle CDB$, with side length ratio $\frac{4}{3}$. Their heights also have the same ratio, and since the two heights add up to $4$, we have that $h_{ADE} = 4 \cdot \frac{4}{7} = \frac{16}{7}$ and $h_{CDB} = 3 \cdot \frac 47 = \frac {12}7$. Subtracting the areas, $\frac{1}{2} \cdot 8 \cdot \frac {16}7 - \frac 12 \cdot 6 \cdot \frac{12}7 = 4$ $\Rightarrow$ $\boxed{(B)}$.

### Solution 2

Let $[X]$ represent the area of figure $X$. Note that $[\triangle BEA]=[\triangle ABD]+[\triangle ADE]$ and $[\triangle BCA]=[\triangle ABD]+[\triangle BDC]$.

$[\triangle ADE]-[\triangle BDC]=[\triangle BEA]-[\triangle BCA]=\frac{1}{2} 8*4-\frac{1}{2} 6*4= 16-12=4$ $\Rightarrow$ $\boxed{(B)}$.

## See also

 2004 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) Preceded byProblem 7 Followed byProblem 9 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
 2004 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) Preceded byProblem 8 Followed byProblem 10 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 10 Problems and Solutions
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