MathDB
Right Triangle

Source:

February 7, 2009

Problem Statement

In the right triangle shown the sum of the distances BM BM and MA MA is equal to the sum of the distances BC BC and CA CA. If MB \equal{} x, CB \equal{} h, and CA \equal{} d, then x x equals: [asy]size(200); defaultpen(linewidth(.8pt)+fontsize(10pt)); dotfactor=4; draw((0,0)--(8,0)--(0,5)--cycle); label("C",(0,0),SW); label("A",(8,0),SE); label("M",(0,5),N); dot((0,3.5)); label("B",(0,3.5),W); label("xx",(0,4.25),W); label("hh",(0,1),W); label("dd",(4,0),S);[/asy] (A)\ \frac {hd}{2h \plus{} d} \qquad (B)\ d \minus{} h \qquad (C)\ \frac {1}{2}d \qquad (D)\ h \plus{} d \minus{} \sqrt {2d} \qquad (E)\ \sqrt {h^2 \plus{} d^2} \minus{} h