2016 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 9

Problem

All three vertices of $\bigtriangleup ABC$ lie on the parabola defined by $y=x^2$, with $A$ at the origin and $\overline{BC}$ parallel to the $x$-axis. The area of the triangle is $64$. What is the length of $BC$?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 4\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 6\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 8\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 10\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 16$

Solution

[asy]import graph;size(7cm,IgnoreAspect); real f(real x) {return x*x;} draw((0,0)--(4,16)--(-4,16)--cycle,blue); draw(graph(f,-5,5,operator ..),gray); xaxis("$x$");yaxis("$y$",-1); label("$y=x^2$",(4.5,20.25),E); draw((4.2,0)--(4.2,16),Arrows); label("$r^2$",(4.2,0)--(4.2,16),E); draw((0,17)--(4,17),Arrows); label("$r$",(0,17)--(4,17),N); [/asy] The area of the triangle is $r^3$, so $r^3=64\implies r=4$, giving a total distance across the top of $8$, which is answer $\textbf{(C)}$.

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/1pi0eiD3jHc

~savannahsolver

See Also

2016 AMC 10B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 8
Followed by
Problem 10
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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