Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 323 of 400 #923 of 1964

Problem 923

AIME late
Geometry Difficulty 5.7 Find the answer

Question 166, Given that the vertex of the parabola is at the origin, the focus is on the x\mathrm{x}-axis, the three vertices of ABC\triangle \mathrm{ABC} are all on the parabola, and the centroid of ABC\triangle A B C is the focus FF of the parabola. If the equation of the line on which side BCB C lies is 4x+y20=04 x+y-20=0, then the equation of the parabola is \qquad -

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

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Official solution

Question 166, Solution: Let the equation of the parabola be y2=2pxy^{2}=2 p x, then F(p2,0)F\left(\frac{p}{2}, 0\right). Solving the system of equations {y2=2px4x+y20=0\left\{\begin{array}{c}y^{2}=2 p x \\ 4 x+y-20=0\end{array}\right., we get (204x)2=2px8x2(80+p)x+200=0(20-4 x)^{2}=2 p x \Rightarrow 8 x^{2}-(80+p) x+200=0. According to Vieta's formulas, we have {xB+xc=p8+10yB+yC=p2\left\{\begin{array}{c}x_{B}+x_{c}=\frac{p}{8}+10 \\ y_{B}+y_{C}=-\frac{p}{2}\end{array}\right.. Noting that the centroid of ABC\triangle A B C is F(p2,0)F\left(\frac{p}{2}, 0\right), hence
{xA+xB+xc=3p2yA+yB+yC=0{xA=11p810yA=p2 \left\{\begin{array} { l } { x _ { A } + x _ { B } + x _ { c } = \frac { 3 p } { 2 } } \\ { y _ { A } + y _ { B } + y _ { C } = 0 } \end{array} \Rightarrow \left\{\begin{array}{c} x_{A}=\frac{11 p}{8}-10 \\ y_{A}=\frac{p}{2} \end{array}\right.\right.

Since point AA lies on the parabola, we have (p2)2=2p(11p810)\left(\frac{p}{2}\right)^{2}=2 p \cdot\left(\frac{11 p}{8}-10\right), solving this gives p=8p=8. In conclusion, the equation of the parabola is y2=16xy^{2}=16 x.

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