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2010 AMC 12A Problem 3

Problem 3 of 25EasierAlgebraGeometry

Rectangle ABCD,ABCD, pictured below, shares 50%50\% of its area with square EFGH.EFGH. Square EFGHEFGH shares 20%20\% of its area with rectangle ABCD.ABCD. What is ABAD?\dfrac{AB}{AD}?

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Solution

Let ss be the side length of square EFGH.EFGH. The shaded overlap has width ss and height AD,AD, so its area is sAD.s\cdot AD. Because the overlap is 50%50\% of the rectangle, sAD=12ABAD,s\cdot AD=\tfrac12\,AB\cdot AD, so AB=2s.AB=2s. Because it is 20%20\% of the square, sAD=15s2,s\cdot AD=\tfrac15 s^2, so AD=s5.AD=\tfrac{s}{5}. Therefore ABAD=2ss5=10.\dfrac{AB}{AD}=\dfrac{2s}{\frac{s}{5}}=10. Thus, E is the correct answer.

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Concepts: area ratio · percentage

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