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jmc

geometry senior

Problem

A point is chosen in the interior of such that when lines are drawn through parallel to the sides of , the resulting smaller triangles , , and in the figure, have areas , , and , respectively. Find the area of .
problem
Solution
By the transversals that go through , all four triangles are similar to each other by the postulate. Also, note that the length of any one side of the larger triangle is equal to the sum of the sides of each of the corresponding sides on the smaller triangles. We use the identity to show that the areas are proportional (the sides are proportional and the angles are equal) Hence, we can write the lengths of corresponding sides of the triangle as . Thus, the corresponding side on the large triangle is , and the area of the triangle is .
Final answer
144