Problem 8 (2011 AIME I) — AIME 2011 · USAMO Guide - Olympiad Mathematics Learning Platform

Problem 8 (2011 AIME I)

AIME 2011

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Understand the scale

Scale 0.5: Easiest math competition problems, often solvable even for early middle school students without experience. 1: Problems strictly for beginners, often at a moderate middle school level. 1.5: Problems for stronger beginner students, on the level of the middling problems in most middle school contests. 2: For motivated beginners, harder questions from the previous categories. 2.5: More advanced beginner problems, hardest questions from previous categories. 3: Early intermediate problems that require more creative thinking. 3.5: Tougher early intermediate problems that consistently stretch into higher-level creative thinking or conceptual knowledge. 4: Intermediate-level problems. 4.5: Upper intermediate problems approaching the upper bound for non-invitational sprint math competitions. 5: More difficult AIME problems or simple proof-based Olympiad-style problems. 6: High-level AIME-styled questions or introductory Olympiad-level questions. 7: Tougher Olympiad-level questions, may require more technical knowledge. 8: High-level Olympiad-level questions. 9: Expert Olympiad-level questions. 9.5: The hardest problems appearing on Olympiads which the strongest students could reasonably solve. 10: Historically notorious problems, generally unsuitable for even very hard competitions because they are exceedingly tedious, long, and difficult.

Problem

In triangle $ABC$ , $BC = 23$ , $CA = 27$ , and $AB = 30$ . Points $V$ and $W$ are on $\overline{AC}$ with $V$ on $\overline{AW}$ , points $X$ and $Y$ are on $\overline{BC}$ with $X$ on $\overline{CY}$ , and points $Z$ and $U$ are on $\overline{AB}$ with $Z$ on $\overline{BU}$ . In addition, the points are positioned so that $\overline{UV}\parallel\overline{BC}$ , $\overline{WX}\parallel\overline{AB}$ , and $\overline{YZ}\parallel\overline{CA}$ . Right angle folds are then made along $\overline{UV}$ , $\overline{WX}$ , and $\overline{YZ}$ . The resulting figure is placed on a leveled floor to make a table with triangular legs. Let $h$ be the maximum possible height of a table constructed from triangle $ABC$ whose top is parallel to the floor. Then $h$ can be written in the form $\frac{k\sqrt{m}}{n}$ , where $k$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers and $m$ is a positive integer that is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find $k+m+n$ . $

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