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Difference between revisions of "1989 AIME Problems/Problem 6"

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Revision as of 18:16, 4 July 2013

Problem

Two skaters, Allie and Billie, are at points $A$ and $B$, respectively, on a flat, frozen lake. The distance between $A$ and $B$ is $100$ meters. Allie leaves $A$ and skates at a speed of $8$ meters per second on a straight line that makes a $60^\circ$ angle with $AB$. At the same time Allie leaves $A$, Billie leaves $B$ at a speed of $7$ meters per second and follows the straight path that produces the earliest possible meeting of the two skaters, given their speeds. How many meters does Allie skate before meeting Billie?

[asy] pointpen=black; pathpen=black+linewidth(0.7); pair A=(0,0),B=(10,0),C=6*expi(pi/3); D(B--A); D(A--C,EndArrow); MP("A",A,SW);MP("B",B,SE);MP("60^{\circ}",A+(0.3,0),NE);MP("100",(A+B)/2); [/asy]

Solution

Label the point of intersection as $C$. Since $d = rt$, $AC = 8t$ and $BC = 7t$. According to the law of cosines,

[asy] pointpen=black; pathpen=black+linewidth(0.7); pair A=(0,0),B=(10,0),C=16*expi(pi/3); D(B--A); D(A--C); D(B--C,dashed); MP("A",A,SW);MP("B",B,SE);MP("C",C,N);MP("60^{\circ}",A+(0.3,0),NE);MP("100",(A+B)/2);MP("8t",(A+C)/2,NW);MP("7t",(B+C)/2,NE); [/asy]

\begin{align*}(7t)^2 &= (8t)^2 + 100^2 - 2 \cdot 8t \cdot 100 \cdot \cos 60^\circ\\ 0 &= 15t^2 - 800t + 10000 = 3t^2 - 160t + 2000\\ t &= \frac{160 \pm \sqrt{160^2 - 4\cdot 3 \cdot 2000}}{6} = 20, \frac{100}{3}.\end{align*}

Since we are looking for the earliest possible intersection, $20$ seconds are needed. Thus, $8 \cdot 20 = \boxed{160}$ meters is the solution.

See also

1989 AIME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by
Problem 5 		Followed by
Problem 7
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions

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