2023 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 15: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:34, 10 November 2023

Question

Usain is walking for exercise by zigzagging across a $100$ -meter by $30$ -meter rectangular field, beginning at point $A$ and ending on the segment $\overline{BC}$ . He wants to increase the distance walked by zigzagging as shown in the figure below $(APQRS)$ . What angle $\theta$ $\angle PAB=\angle QPC=\angle RQB=\cdots$ will produce in a length that is $120$ meters? (This figure is not drawn to scale. Do not assume that he zigzag path has exactly four segments as shown; there could be more or fewer.)

[Pls finish] $[asy] import olympiad; draw((-50,15)--(50,15)); draw((50,15)--(50,-15)); draw((50,-15)--(-50,-15)); draw((-50,-15)--(-50,15)); draw((-50,-15)--(-22.5,15)); draw((-22.5,15)--(5,-15)); draw((5,-15)--(32.5,15)); draw((32.5,15)--(50,-4.090909090909)); label("$\theta$", (-41.5,-11)); label("$\theta$", (-13,11)); [/asy]$

$\textbf{(A)}~\arccos\frac{5}{6}\qquad\textbf{(B)}~\arccos\frac{4}{5}\qquad\textbf{(C)}~\arccos\frac{3}{10}\qquad\textbf{(D)}~\arcsin\frac{4}{5}\qquad\textbf{(E)}~\arcsin\frac{5}{6}$

Solution 1

By "unfolding" $APQRS$ into a straight line, we get a right angled triangle $ABS$ .

$cos(\theta)=\frac{100}{120}$

$\theta=\boxed{\textbf{(A) } \arccos\left(\frac{5}{6}\right)}$

~lptoggled

Video Solution 1 by OmegaLearn

https://youtu.be/NhUI-BNCIUE

Solution 2(Trig Bash)

We can let $x$ be the length of one of the full segments of the zigzag. We can then notice that $\sin\theta = \frac{30}{x}$ . By Pythagorean Theorem, we see that $BP = \sqrt{x^2 - 900}$ . This implies that: $RC = 100 - 3\sqrt{x^2 - 900}.$ We also realize that $RS = 120 - 3x$ , so this means that: $\cos\theta = \frac{100 - 3\sqrt{x^2 - 900}}{120 - 3x}.$ We can then substitute $x = \frac{30}{\sin\theta}$ , so this gives: $\begin{align*} \cos\theta &= \frac{100 - 3\sqrt{x^2 - 900}}{120 - 3x}\\ &= \frac{100 - 3\sqrt{\frac{900}{\sin^2\theta} - 900}}{120 - \frac{90}{\sin\theta}}\\ &= \frac{100 - 90\sqrt{\csc^2\theta - 1}}{120 - \frac{90}{\sin\theta}}\\ &= \frac{100 - \frac{90}{\tan\theta}}{120 - 90\sin\theta}\\ &= \frac{100\sin\theta - 90\cos\theta}{120\sin\theta - 90}\\ &= \frac{10\sin\theta - 9\cos\theta}{12\sin\theta - 9}\\ \end{align*}$

Now we have: $\cos\theta = \frac{10\sin\theta - 9\cos\theta}{12\sin\theta - 9},$ meaning that: $12\sin\theta\cos\theta - 9\cos\theta = 10\sin\theta - 9\cos\theta \implies \cos\theta = \frac{10}{12} = \frac56.$ This means that $\theta = \arccos\left(\frac56\right)$ , giving us $\boxed{\textbf{A}}$

~ap246

2023 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
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