2014 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 14

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Problem

Rectangle $ABCD$ and right triangle $DCE$ have the same area. They are joined to form a trapezoid, as shown. What is $DE$?

[asy] size(250); defaultpen(linewidth(0.8)); pair A=(0,5),B=origin,C=(6,0),D=(6,5),E=(18,0); draw(A--B--E--D--cycle^^C--D); draw(rightanglemark(D,C,E,30)); label("$A$",A,NW); label("$B$",B,SW); label("$C$",C,S); label("$D$",D,N); label("$E$",E,S); label("$5$",A/2,W); label("$6$",(A+D)/2,N); [/asy]

$\textbf{(A) }12\qquad\textbf{(B) }13\qquad\textbf{(C) }14\qquad\textbf{(D) }15\qquad\textbf{(E) }16$

Solution

The area of $\bigtriangleup CDE$ is $\frac{DC\cdot CE}{2}$. The area of $ABCD$ is $AB\cdot AD=5\cdot 6=30$, which also must be equal to the area of $\bigtriangleup CDE$, which, since $DC=5$, must in turn equal $\frac{5\cdot CE}{2}$. Through transitivity, then, $\frac{5\cdot CE}{2}=30$, and $CE=12$. It should be apparent that $\bigtriangleup CDE$ is a $5-12-13$ triangle, so $DE=\boxed{13}$.

See Also

2014 AMC 8 (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 13
Followed by
Problem 15
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 AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

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