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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Let AA, BB, CC, DD, EE be five points in the plane with distances given (in some units) as
∣AB∣=12, ∣BC∣=50, ∣CD∣=38, ∣AD∣=100, ∣BE∣=30, ∣CE∣=40. |AB| = 12,\ |BC| = 50,\ |CD| = 38,\ |AD| = 100,\ |BE| = 30,\ |CE| = 40.
Find the distance ∣ED∣|ED|.

Solution

Since ∣AD∣=100=12+50+38=∣AB∣+∣BC∣+∣CD∣|AD| = 100 = 12 + 50 + 38 = |AB| + |BC| + |CD|, the points AA, BB, CC, DD lie on a line in this order. Since
∣BE∣2+∣EC∣2=302+402=900+1600=2500=502=∣BC∣2, |BE|^2 + |EC|^2 = 30^2 + 40^2 = 900 + 1600 = 2500 = 50^2 = |BC|^2,
the triangle EBCEBC has a right angle at EE.

Figure 1

Let QQ be the projection of EE on the hypotenuse BCBC of this triangle. Then twice the area of this triangle is equal to
∣EQ∣×∣BC∣=∣EC∣×∣EB∣, |EQ| \times |BC| = |EC| \times |EB|,
hence
∣EQ∣=∣EC∣×∣EB∣∣BC∣=40×3050=24. |EQ| = \frac{|EC| \times |EB|}{|BC|} = \frac{40 \times 30}{50} = 24.
By Pythagoras,
∣QC∣=∣EC∣2−∣EQ∣2=402−242=1600−576=1024=32, |QC| = \sqrt{|EC|^2 - |EQ|^2} = \sqrt{40^2 - 24^2} = \sqrt{1600 - 576} = \sqrt{1024} = 32,
and so ∣QD∣=∣QC∣+∣CD∣=32+38=70|QD| = |QC| + |CD| = 32 + 38 = 70, hence
∣ED∣=∣QE∣2+∣QD∣2=242+702=576+4900=5476=74. |ED| = \sqrt{|QE|^2 + |QD|^2} = \sqrt{24^2 + 70^2} = \sqrt{576 + 4900} = \sqrt{5476} = 74.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.