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Isosceles Triangle (Posted on 2007-11-21) Difficulty: 3 of 5
The perimeter of an isosceles triangle ABC with CA = CB, is 420. Find the area of this triangle if D is a point on the base of the triangle such that CD and CA are integers, and AD and DB are primes.

  Submitted by Dennis    
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Solution: (Hide)
Let a=CA,b=CD,p=AD, and q=DB. Draw a circle with center at C and a radius of a. Extend segment CD in both directions to form diameter ECDF. Now ED=a+b and DF=a-b -->

(a+b)(a-b) = pq

Since p and q are prime, there are only two possibilities.

Case I: a+b=p and a-b=q (if p>=q, otherwise switch p and q) --> 2a=p+q which is impossible since the sum of the lengths of two sides of a triangle is greater than the length of the third side.

Case II: a+b=pq and a-b=1 --> a=(pq+1)/2 and b=(pq-1)/2

Letting P represent the perimeter yields:
P=2a+p+q=(p+1)(q+1)=420

But the only possible pairs of integers with this product where p and q are prime are (3,140) and (14,30). Now q=2 and p=139 --> a=139.5 which is impossible. So q=13 and p=29 --> a=189 and b=188, forcing an area of 1764sqrt(5).

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
re: Brute Force SolutionDennis2007-11-24 12:38:56
SolutionBrute Force SolutionDej Mar2007-11-21 20:23:28
Solutioncomputer aided solutionDaniel2007-11-21 12:49:14
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