2024 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 24

Problem

Jean has made a piece of stained glass art in the shape of two mountains, as shown in the figure below. One mountain peak is $8$ feet high while the other peak is $12$ feet high. Each peak forms a $90^\circ$ angle, and the straight sides form a $45^\circ$ angle with the ground. The artwork has an area of $183$ square feet. The sides of the mountain meet at an intersection point near the center of the artwork, $h$ feet above the ground. What is the value of $h?$

$[asy] unitsize(.3cm); filldraw((0,0)--(8,8)--(11,5)--(18,12)--(30,0)--cycle,gray(0.7),linewidth(1)); draw((-1,0)--(-1,8),linewidth(.75)); draw((-1.4,0)--(-.6,0),linewidth(.75)); draw((-1.4,8)--(-.6,8),linewidth(.75)); label("$8$",(-1,4),W); label("$12$",(31,6),E); draw((-1,8)--(8,8),dashed); draw((31,0)--(31,12),linewidth(.75)); draw((30.6,0)--(31.4,0),linewidth(.75)); draw((30.6,12)--(31.4,12),linewidth(.75)); draw((31,12)--(18,12),dashed); label("$45^{\circ}$",(.75,0),NE,fontsize(10pt)); label("$45^{\circ}$",(29.25,0),NW,fontsize(10pt)); draw((8,8)--(7.5,7.5)--(8,7)--(8.5,7.5)--cycle); draw((18,12)--(17.5,11.5)--(18,11)--(18.5,11.5)--cycle); draw((11,5)--(11,0),dashed); label("$h$",(11,2.5),E); [/asy]$

$\textbf{(A)}\ 4 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 4\sqrt{2} \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 5 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 5\sqrt{2} \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 6$

Solution 1

Extend the "inner part" of the mountain so that the image is two right triangles that overlap in a third right triangle. The side length of the largest right triangle is $12\sqrt{2},$ which means its area is $144.$ Similarly, the area of the second largest right triangle is $64$ (the side length is $8\sqrt{2}$ ), and the area of the overlap triangle is $h^2$ (the side length is $h\sqrt{2}$ ) Thus, $144+64-h^2=183,$ which means that the answer is $\boxed{C}.$