# 2008 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 20

## Problem

Trapezoid $ABCD$ has bases $\overline{AB}$ and $\overline{CD}$ and diagonals intersecting at $K$. Suppose that $AB = 9$, $DC = 12$, and the area of $\triangle AKD$ is $24$. What is the area of trapezoid $ABCD$?

$\mathrm{(A)}\ 92\qquad\mathrm{(B)}\ 94\qquad\mathrm{(C)}\ 96\qquad\mathrm{(D)}\ 98 \qquad\mathrm{(E)}\ 100$

## Solution

$[asy] pointpen = black; pathpen = black + linewidth(0.62); /* cse5 */ pen sm = fontsize(10); /* small font pen */ pair D=(0,0),C=(12,0), K=(7,16/3); /* note that K.x is arbitrary, as generator for A,B */ pair A=7*K/4-3*C/4, B=7*K/4-3*D/4; D(MP("A",A,N)--MP("B",B,N)--MP("C",C)--MP("D",D)--A--C);D(B--D);D(A--MP("K",K)--D--cycle,linewidth(0.7)); MP("9",(A+B)/2,N,sm);MP("12",(C+D)/2,sm);MP("24",(A+D)/2+(1,0),E); [/asy]$

Since $\overline{AB} \parallel \overline{DC}$ it follows that $\triangle ABK \sim \triangle CDK$. Thus $\frac{KA}{KC} = \frac{KB}{KD} = \frac{AB}{DC} = \frac{3}{4}$.

We now introduce the concept of area ratios: given two triangles that share the same height, the ratio of the areas is equal to the ratio of their bases. Since $\triangle AKB, \triangle AKD$ share a common altitude to $\overline{BD}$, it follows that (we let $[\triangle \ldots]$ denote the area of the triangle) $\frac{[\triangle AKB]}{[\triangle AKD]} = \frac{KB}{KD} = \frac{3}{4}$, so $[\triangle AKB] = \frac{3}{4}(24) = 18$. Similarly, we find $[\triangle DKC] = \frac{4}{3}(24) = 32$ and $[\triangle BKC] = 24$.

Therefore, the area of $ABCD = [AKD] + [AKB] + [BKC] + [CKD] = 24 + 18 + 24 + 32 = 98\ \mathrm{(D)}$.

## See also

 2008 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) Preceded byProblem 19 Followed byProblem 21 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

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.

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