Skip to main content

2020 AMC 12B Problem 18

Problem 18 of 25IntermediateGeometry

In square ABCD,ABCD, points EE and HH lie on AB\overline{AB} and DA,\overline{DA}, respectively, so that AE=AH.AE = AH. Points FF and GG lie on BC\overline{BC} and CD,\overline{CD}, respectively, and points II and JJ lie on EH\overline{EH} so that FIEH\overline{FI} \perp \overline{EH} and GJEH.\overline{GJ} \perp \overline{EH}. See the figure below. Triangle AEH,AEH, quadrilateral BFIE,BFIE, quadrilateral DHJG,DHJG, and pentagon FCGJIFCGJI each has area 1.1. What is FI2?FI^2?

Answer choices

Show solution

Solution

The four regions have total area 4,4, so the square has side 2.2. Put A=(0,0),A = (0, 0), B=(2,0),B = (2, 0), C=(2,2),C = (2, 2), D=(0,2).D = (0, 2). Since AEH\triangle AEH is an isosceles right triangle with area 1,1, we get AE=AH=2,AE = AH = \sqrt2, so E=(2,0)E = (\sqrt2, 0) and H=(0,2).H = (0, \sqrt2). Line EHEH is x+y=2.x + y = \sqrt2. Let F=(2,t).F = (2, t). Its perpendicular distance to line EHEH is FI=2+t22.FI = \tfrac{2 + t - \sqrt2}{\sqrt2}. Write s=FI2=2+t22,s=\frac{FI}{\sqrt2}=\tfrac{2+t-\sqrt2}{2}, so the foot of the perpendicular is I=(2s,ts).I=(2-s,t-s). The shoelace formula on B=(2,0),B=(2,0), F,F, I,I, and E=(2,0)E=(\sqrt2,0) gives [BFIE]=s2(322).[BFIE]=s^2-(3-2\sqrt2). Since this area is 1,1, we get s2=422.s^2=4-2\sqrt2. Then FI2=2s2=842.FI^2 = 2s^2 = 8 - 4\sqrt2. Thus, the correct answer is B.

More practice

Concepts: coordinate geometry · area decomposition · special right triangle

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