Skip to main content

2015 AMC 10A Problem 24

Problem 24 of 25HarderGeometryNumber Theory

For some positive integers p,p, there is a quadrilateral ABCDABCD with positive integer side lengths, perimeter p,p, right angles at BB and C,C, AB=2,AB=2, and CD=AD.CD=AD. How many different values of p<2015p < 2015 are possible?

Answer choices

Show solution

Solution

Let BC=xBC=x and CD=AD=yCD=AD=y. Dropping the altitude from AA to CDCD gives a right triangle with legs xx and y2y-2, and hypotenuse yy. Therefore (y2)2+x2=y2,(y-2)^2+x^2=y^2, so x2=4(y1)x^2=4(y-1). Since xx is an integer, write x=2kx=2k. Then y=k2+1y=k^2+1, and the perimeter is p=2+x+y+y=2k2+2k+4. \begin{aligned} &p=2+x+y+y \\ &=2k^2+2k+4. \end{aligned} We need 2k2+2k+4<20152k^2+2k+4<2015, or k2+k<1005.5k^2+k<1005.5. This holds for k=1,2,,31k=1,2,\ldots,31, while k=32k=32 is too large. Thus there are 3131 possible perimeters. Thus, B is the correct answer.

More practice

Concepts: Pythagorean Theorem · Diophantine Equation · perimeter

Problem text and solution from the LIVE past-contest archive. See also the AoPS wiki page for community solutions.