Rectangle with a Lot of Perpendiculars
Source:
June 13, 2009
geometryrectangle
Problem Statement
is a rectangle (see the accompanying diagram) with any point on . and . and . Then PR \plus{} PS is equal to:
[asy]defaultpen(linewidth(.8pt));
unitsize(3cm);pair D = origin;
pair C = (2,0);
pair B = (2,1);
pair A = (0,1);
pair P = waypoint(B--A,0.2);
pair S = foot(P,D,B);
pair R = foot(P,A,C);
pair F = foot(A,D,B);
pair Q = foot(P,A,F);
pair T = intersectionpoint(P--Q,A--C);
pair X = intersectionpoint(A--C,B--D);draw(A--B--C--D--cycle);
draw(A--C);
draw(B--D);
draw(P--S);
draw(A--F);
draw(P--R);
draw(P--Q);label("",A,NW);
label("",B,NE);
label("",C,SE);
label("",D,SW);
label("",P,N);
label("",S,SE);
label("",T,N);
label("",X,SW+SE);
label("",R,SW);
label("",F,SE);
label("",Q,SW);[/asy]
(A)\ PQ\qquad (B)\ AE\qquad (C)\ PT \plus{} AT\qquad (D)\ AF\qquad (E)\ EF