Difference between revisions of "2013 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 16"

m (Problem)
Line 4: Line 4:
  
 
<math> \textbf{(A)}\ 9 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \frac{28}{3} \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 10 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \frac{31}{3} \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \frac{32}{3} </math>
 
<math> \textbf{(A)}\ 9 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \frac{28}{3} \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 10 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \frac{31}{3} \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \frac{32}{3} </math>
 +
[[Category: Introductory Geometry Problems]]
  
 
==Solution==
 
==Solution==

Revision as of 10:50, 13 August 2014

Problem

A triangle with vertices $(6, 5)$, $(8, -3)$, and $(9, 1)$ is reflected about the line $x=8$ to create a second triangle. What is the area of the union of the two triangles?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 9 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \frac{28}{3} \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 10 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \frac{31}{3} \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \frac{32}{3}$

Solution

Let $A$ be at $(6, 5)$, B be at $(8, -3)$, and $C$ be at $(9, 1)$. Reflecting over the line $x=8$, we see that $A' = D =  (10,5)$, $B' = B$ (as the x-coordinate of B is 8), and $C' = E =  (7, 1)$.

[asy] pair A = (6, 5), B = (8, -3), C = (9, 1), D = (10, 5), E = (7, 1); draw(A--B--C--cycle^^D--E--B--cycle); dot(A^^B^^C^^D^^E); label("$A$",A,NW); label("$B$",B,S); label("$C$",C,SE); label("$D$",D,NE); label("$E$",E,W);   [/asy]

We see that if we connect $A$ to $D$, we get a line of length $4$ (between $(6, 5)$ and $(10,5)$). The area of $\triangle ABD$ is equal to $\frac{bh}{2} = \frac{4(8)}{2} = 16$.

Now, let the point of intersection between $AC$ and $DE$ be $F$. If we can just find the area of $\triangle ADF$ and subtract it from 16, we are done.

We realize that because the diagram is symmetric over $x = 8$, the intersection of lines $AC$ and $DE$ should intersect at an x-coordinate of $8$. We know that the slope of $DE$ is $\frac{5-1}{10-7} = \frac{4}{3}$. Thus, we can represent the line going through $E$ and $D$ as $y - 1=\frac{4}{3}(x - 7)$. Plugging in $x = 8$, we find that the y-coordinate of F is $\frac{7}{3}$. Thus, the height of $\triangle ADF$ is $5 - \frac{7}{3} = \frac{8}{3}$. Using the formula for the area of a triangle, the area of $\triangle ADF$ is $\frac{16}{3}$.

To get our final answer, we must subtract this from $16$. $[ABD] - [ADF] = 16 - \frac{16}{3} = \boxed{\textbf{(E) }\frac{32}{3}}$

See Also

2013 AMC 10A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 15
Followed by
Problem 17
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. AMC logo.png