Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 3 / 119 of 260 #119 of 1964

Problem 119

AMC 10/12, early questions
Geometry Difficulty 3.4 Multiple choice

In triangle ABCABC, 3sin⁡A+4cos⁡B=63 \sin A + 4 \cos B = 6 and 4sin⁡B+3cos⁡A=14 \sin B + 3 \cos A = 1. Then ∠C\angle C in degrees is

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Official solution

Square the given equations and add (simplifying with the Pythagorean identity sin⁡2x+cos⁡2x=1\sin^2 x + \cos^2 x = 1):
9sin⁡2A+16cos⁡2B+24sin⁡Acos⁡B=36+9cos⁡2A+16sin⁡2B+24sin⁡Bcos⁡A=1⟹25+24(sin⁡Acos⁡B+sin⁡Bcos⁡A)=37\begin{align*} 9\sin^2 A + 16\cos^2 B + 24 \sin A \cos B & = 36 \\ + 9\cos^2 A + 16\sin^2 B + 24 \sin B \cos A & = 1 \\ \Longrightarrow 25 + 24(\sin A \cos B + \sin B \cos A ) & = 37 \end{align*}
Thus 12=sin⁡Acos⁡B+sin⁡Bcos⁡A\frac 12 = \sin A \cos B + \sin B \cos A. This is the sine addition identity, so 12=sin⁡(A+B)=sin⁡(180−C)=sin⁡C\frac 12 = \sin (A + B) = \sin (180 - C) = \sin C. Thus either C=30∘,150∘C = 30^{\circ}, 150^{\circ}.
If C=150C = 150, then A+B=30⟹A,B<30A + B = 30 \Longrightarrow A,B < 30, and sin⁡A<12,cos⁡A<1\sin A < \frac 12, \cos A < 1. The first equation implies 6=3sin⁡A+4cos⁡B<3(12)+4(1)=5.5<66 = 3 \sin A + 4\cos B < 3\left(\frac 12\right) + 4(1) = 5.5 < 6, which is a contradiction; thus C=30⟹(A)C = 30 \Longrightarrow \mathrm{(A)}.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty, ordering) added by this project.