World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

“World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem”

In the figure, find ACD . E

D
F
I. Construction by compass and rulers

II. Deductive approach:

10
Solutions: 20
70 60
Let ACD   and AB  x . A B

By (  sum of  ), we have the following angles as shown in the figure:

E
20
Method 1 (Purely Trigonometry)

BD x
In ABD , 
sin 80 sin 40
 C
x sin 80 x(2 sin 40 cos 40)
BD    2 x cos 40  2 x sin 50 130  30
sin 40 sin 40
D
40 F
BC x
In ABC , 
sin 70 sin 30

x sin 70 10

BC   2 x sin 70 20
1 70
  60
2 A B
x

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

BC BD
In BCD ,  E
sin(130   ) sin( 30   )
20
BC sin(130   )

BD sin( 30   )

2 x sin 70 sin[180  (130   )]

  C
2 x sin 50 sin( 30   )
130  30
D
sin 70 sin( 50   )
 40 F
sin 50 sin( 30   )

sin 70 sin( 30   )  sin 50 sin( 50   )

10
20
1 1
 [cos(100   )  cos(40   )]   [cos(100   )  cos ] 70 60
2 2 A B
x
cos(40   )  cos

  360n  (40   ) , where n is an integer.

2  360n  40 or 360n  40  0 (rej.)

  180n  20

0    130 ,   20 .

Remarks:

1. It is the shortest proof but not an elegant one. Not much insight is developed in this method.
One may not know under what circumstances we should interchange sin  and sin(180   ) .

2. Yet, trigonometry establishes the relationship between angles and lengths of sides in geometry.
This helps avoid construction of extra straight lines.

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

Method 2 (Pseudo Geometric Approach) E

20
Let DE  a and AB  b

DEB  DBE  20 ,

a
DE  DB  a (sides opp. eq.  s) C
30
Let G be a point on DA so that GBD  40 .
D
40 F
GDB  GBD  40

GD  GB (sides opp. eq.  s)

G
GBA  60  40  20 40 20
10 70
20
A B
AGB  180  20  (10  70)  80 (  sum of  ) b

GAB  AGB  80

GB  AB  b (sides opp. eq.  s)

E
GD  GB  AB  b
20
Let H be the point of intersection of AC and BG.

CHB  180  30  (20  40)  90 (  sum of  )

a
C
HFB  180  90  40  50 (  sum of  )
30
CFB  180  50  130 (adj.  s on st. line) D
40 F
130
HB
 sin 70 b
50
AB
G
HB  b sin 70 H
40 20
10 70
20
A B
HB 1 b
 sin 30 
CB 2

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

E
CB  2b sin 70
20
HB
 sin 50
FB
b sin 70 a
FB 
sin 50 C
30
GBD is isos. D
40 F
 BD  130
  b

2 
 cos 40  sin 50 50
GD G
a  2b sin 50 H
40 20
10 70
20
ABE is isos., A B
b

 AB 
 
 20 

2 
 sin    sin 10
BE  2 
b
BE 
2 sin 10
E
b 20
CE  BE  BC   2b sin 70
2 sin 10
 1  b(1  4 sin 70 sin 10) b[1  2(cos 60  cos80)] b
CE  b  2 sin 70   
 2 sin 10  2 sin 10 2 sin 10 a
C
2b cos 80 b sin 10 30
CE   b
2 sin 10 sin 10 D
40 F
In CED & FBC , 130
b
50
CED  FBC  20 (proved)
G
H
40 20
ED 2b sin 50 10 70
  2 sin 50 20
CE b A B
b

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

E
BC 2b sin 70 20
  2 sin 50
FB  b sin 70 
 
 sin 50  b

ED BC a
  2 sin 50  C
CE FB
30
 CED ~ FBC (ratio of 2 sides, inc.  ) D
40 F
130
ECD  BFC  130 (corr.  s, ~  s)
b
50
ACD  180  30 130  20 (adj.  s on st. line) G
H
40 20
10 70
20
A B
b
Remarks:

1. It is not natural to guess that CED ~ FBC with limited given conditions.

2. By constructing isosceles GBD , we fortunately get the right angle CHB . Hence we get all
the angles 10, 20, 30, , 80, 90 and GBA ~ AEB , though it is not used in the proof.

3. This method yields some more trigonometric identities:

b
(a) CE   2b sin 70  b
2 sin 10

1
  2 sin 70  1
2 sin 10

 GA 
 
 2   20 
(b)  sin    sin 10
b  2 

GA  2b sin 10

from EA  EB , we have 2b sin 50  b  2b sin10  b  2b sin 70

i.e. sin 10  sin 50  sin 70 or equivalently, cos 40  cos80  cos 20 .

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

4. Indeed students may use calculator to obtain the identity in point 3, hence students with
knowledge of geometry (up to congruent and similar triangles) and trigonometric RATIOs only
are able to understand (but not necessarily to give!) the proof.

Method 3 (Purely Geometric Approach) E

Let P be a point on DB such that EP is the angle bisector of AEB . 10 10

Construct AP.

In AEP & BEP ,

C
EP  EP (common) 30
D
40 F
AEP  BEP  10 (by construction)

EAB  EBA  80 P

10
 AE  BE (sides opp. eq.  s) 20
70 60
 AEP  BEP (SAS) A B

EAP  EBP  20 (corr.  s,   s)

E
CAP  20  10  10 10 10

PAB  70  10  60

APB  180  60  60  60 (  sum of  )

C
 APB is an equil.  30
D
 AP  PB  AB (def. of equil.  ) 40 F

Let them be y. P
10
In AEC & EBP , 20
70 60
A B
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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

EAC  BEP  10 (proved) E

10 10
AEC  EBP  20 (proved)

AE  EB (proved)

AEC  EBP (ASA) C

30
 EC  BP  y (corr. sides,   s) D Q
40 F
Extend AP to meet BE at Q. Construct DQ.
P
DPQ  APB  60 (vert. opp.  s)
10
20
In DAB & QBA , 70 60
A B
DAB  QBA  80 (given)

AB  BA (common)

DBA  QAB  60 (proved) E

10 10
 DAB  QBA (ASA)

 DB  QA (corr. sides,   s)

Let them be x. C
30
DP  DB  PB  x  y  QA  PA  QP D Q
40 F
 PDQ  PQD (base  s, isos.  )
P
180  60
  60 (  sum of  ) 10
2 20
70 60
 DPQ is an equil.  A B

 DQ  QP  DP  x  y (def. of equil.  )

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

PQD  QAB  60 E

10 10
 DQ // AB (alt.  s eq.)

 EQD  EBA  80 (corr.  s, DQ // AB )

EDQ  180  20  80  80 (  sum of  ) C

30
DEB  DBE  20 D Q
40 F
ED  DB  x (sides opp. eq.  s)
P
EDQ  EQD  80
10
20
 EQ  ED  x (sides opp. eq.  s) 70 60
A B
CQ  EQ  EC  x  y  DQ

 QCD  QDC (base  s, isos.  )

180  80
  50 (  sum of  )
2

ACD  50  30  20

Remarks:

1. This is the most famous proof. All the other proofs that can be found on the web employ the
same construction of straight lines.

2. It is a natural way to divide the isosceles triangle along the axis of symmetry. By doing so, we
are lucky to obtain equilateral triangles and parallel lines.

3. As it is purely deductive geometric approach, the proof is long and complicated, but an elegant
one.

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

Teaching in Junior Secondary Level

The pedagogy of “Cooperative Learning” is adopted. Practically it is done in the following way:
The problem is divided into 5 parts for 5 expert groups (A, B, C, D, E) of students to work on.
After that, 1 student from each expert group will form a STAD group, and they will combine the
results together. See the appendix of the worksheets.

Further Discussion
E
1. “World Second Hardest Easy Geometry Problem”

In the figure, find ACD .

D
F

20
30
60 50
A B

If we try to generalize the situation as follows:

Consider ABE with some angles marked as shown in the figure. A

natural question is: “Is there any general relation between the marked
angles?” x C

Similar to Method 1 above, we apply sine law several times. D

F

9 a'
b'
a b
A B
 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

AD AB
In ABD , 
sin b sin(180  a  a'b)

AD sin b
 ......(1)
AB sin( a  a'b)

AC AB
In ABC , 
sin( b  b' ) sin(180  a  b  b' )

AB sin( a  b  b' )
 ......(2)
AC sin( b  b' )

AD AC
In ADC ,  E
sin x sin(180  a' x)

AC sin( x  a' )
 ......(3)
AD sin x
AD AB AC sin b sin( a  b  b' ) sin( x  a' )
(1)  (2)  (3)     
AB AC AD sin( a  a'b) sin( b  b' ) sin x x C

sin( x  a' ) sin( a  a'b)  sin( b  b' )

 ......(*) D
sin x sin( a  b  b' )  sin b F
The following table shows some solutions of equation (*).

a a' b b' x a'

b'
75 25 40 30 30 a b
66 22 46 30 30 A B
60 20 50 30 30
39 13 64 30 30
30 10 70 30 30
21 7 76 30 30
6 2 86 30 30

Some patterns of the solution are observed. If we start with (a0 , a '0 , b0 )  (75, 25, 40) , while

keeping b' 30 and x  30 unchanged, then we can generate the the solutions of (*) by
replacing (a0 , a '0 , b0 ) by (a0  3k , a'0 k , b0  2k ) ,where  5  k  25 .
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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

2. In Class Example (DSE Application of Trigonometry in 2–dimensional Problems):

The figure shows a quadrilateral ABCD, where AB  8 cm,

ABD  22 , DBC  46 , ACB  35 and ACD  30 .

(a) Find the length of BC.

(b) Find the length of AD.

3. IMO Preliminary Selection Contest Hong Kong 2014 A

Question 9

ABC is isosceles with AB  AC . P is a point inside ABC so 39

that BCP  30 , APB  150 and CAP  39 . Find BAP .
(1 mark)

150 P

30
B C

Answers:

1.) 30 2.) (a) 13.6 cm (b) 6.51 cm 3.) 13

Appendix:
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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

F.2 Math CL Geometry (Expert Summary Group 1)

(a) Prove that EA  EB . E

10
20
70 60
A B

Let P be a point on DB so that EP is the angle bisector of AEB . Construct AP.

(b) Using (a), prove that AEP  BEP . E

A B
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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

(c) Using (b), find CAP and PAB . E

P
10
20
70 60
A B

(d) Using (c), prove that APB is an equilateral triangle.

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

F.2 Math CL Geometry (Expert Summary Group 2)

(a) Find AEC . E

(b) Using (a), prove that DE  DB .

10
20
70 60
A B

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

Let P be a point on DB so that EP is the angle bisector of AEB .

It is given that AE  EB . (proved by Expert Group 1)

E
(c) Using (a), prove that AEC  EBP .
10 10

P
10
20

A B
(d) Name the corresponding side of BP.

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

F.2 Math CL Geometry (Expert Summary Group 3)

Let P be a point on DB so that APB is an equilateral triangle. (from Expert Group 1)

Extend AP to meet BE at Q.

(a) Find QAB . E

(b) Using (a), prove that DAB  QBA . D Q

P
10
20
70 60
A B

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

(c) Name the corresponding side of DB. E

(d) Using (c), prove that PD  PQ .

D Q

A B

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

F.2 Math CL Geometry (Expert Summary Group 4)

Let P be a point on DB so that APB is an equilateral triangle. (from Expert Group 1)

Extend AP to meet BE at Q.

It is given that PD  PQ . (proved by Expert Group 3)

(a) Find DPQ . E

D Q
(b) Using (a), prove that DPQ is an equilateral triangle.

60
A B

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

(c) Using (b), prove that DQ // AB . E

D Q

60
A B

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

F.2 Math CL Geometry (Expert Summary Group 5)

Let P be a point on DB so that APB is an equilateral triangle. (from Expert Group 1)

Extend AP to meet BE at Q.

It is given that DQ // AB . (proved by Expert Group 4)

(a) Find EDQ and EQD . E

D Q

(b) Using (a), prove that ED  EQ . P

10
20
70 60
A B

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 World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

It is also given that E

1. DB  DE (proved by Expert Group 2)

2. BP  EC  x (proved by Expert Group 2)

3. DP  PQ  QD  y (proved by Expert Group 4) C

D Q
(c) Using (b), prove that QC  QD  y .

A B

(d) Using (a) and (c), find QCD and ACD .

C
30
D Q

A B
21