Area of the Trapezium | PRMO-2017 | Question 30

Consider the areas of the four triangles obtained by drawing the diagonals $\mathrm{AC}$ and $\mathrm{BD}$ of a trapezium ABCD. The product of these areas, taken two at time, are computed. If among the six products so obtained, two products are 1296 and 576 , determine the square root of the maximum possible area of the trapezium to the nearest integer.

Let $x, y, z, w$ be areas of the four triangles as shown in figure.
then area of \(\triangle ADB\)= Area of \(\triangle ACB\)
$\Rightarrow x+y=x+w \Rightarrow y=w$

Also \(\frac{AE}{EC}\)=\(\frac{area of \triangle ADE}{area of \triangle DEF}\)=\(\frac{area of \triangle AEB}{area of \triangle BEC}\)
$\Rightarrow \frac{y}{z}=\frac{x}{w}=\frac{x}{y} \Rightarrow y^{2}=z x$
$\Rightarrow z, y, x$ are in G.P.

Can you now finish the problem ..........

Let $y=z r$ and $x=z r^{2},$ where $r \geq 1$ To make area of trapezium ABCD maximum, we take $z y=z^{2} r=576$
and $y w=z^{2} r^{2}=1296$
As $( z \leq y \leq x)$
Therefore $ \frac{z^{2} r^{2}}{z^{2} r}=\frac{1296}{576} \Rightarrow r=\frac{9}{4} \Rightarrow z=16$

Can you finish the problem........

Therefore area of trapezium $\mathrm{ABCD}$
$=x+y+z+w=z r^{2}+2 z r+z$
$=z(1+r)^{2}=16\left(1+\frac{9}{4}\right)^{2}=13^{2}$
Therefore Answer is $13 .$

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