contest-matheuclidean-geometrygeometrytrigonometry
As title suggests, in the following quadrilaterals with some given angles and lengths, the goal is to find the measure of the base length $AB$. This is a contest-preparation problem with several different ways to solve it. I'll post my own approach below as an answer, please share your solutions as well!
This is my own approach. I'll add a brief explanation too:
This is the procedure I followed:
1.) Label the triangle $ABC$ and mark all the appropriate angles and side lengths. Notice that since $\triangle ABC$ is obtuse, its circumcenter must lie outside of the triangle itself. Locate circumcenter of $\triangle ABC$ outside and call it point $E$. Connect all the vertices of $\triangle ABC$ to $E$ via $AE$, $BE$ and $CE$. Notice that this means $AB=BE=AE=CE=CD$ because $\triangle ABE$ is equilateral.
(for further explanation of above, point $E$ is a circumcenter of $\triangle ABC$, in that case, $\angle AEB$ must be twice the measure of $\angle ACB$ (inscribed angle theorem), which means it'll be $60$. Because $\angle AEB=60$ and know that $AE=BE$, it follows that $\triangle ABE$ is equilateral)
2.) Notice also that $\angle EAC=\angle ECA=6$. Connect point $D$ with $E$ via segment $DE$. Notice that because segment $CD=CE$ and $\angle ECD=36$, this implies that $\angle EDC=\angle DEC=72$. However, notice that $\angle EBD=96-60=36$, therefore, $\angle BED$ is also $36$. But this implies that segment $BD=DE$
3.) Lastly, notice that this means $\triangle ABD$ is congruent to $\triangle AED$ via the SAS property. This means $\angle BAD=\angle EAD=x$. This means that $2x=60$, therefore, $x=30$.
A very simple approach, based on your picture, using the law of sines:
$$\angle CAO=40-x,\angle COA=140^{\circ} \implies \frac{\sin (40-x)^{\circ}}{\sin 140^{\circ}}=\frac {\sin (20+x)^{\circ}}{\sin 40^{\circ}}=\frac{\sin (20+x)^{\circ}}{\sin 140^{\circ}}$$
$$\implies \sin (40-x)^{\circ}=\sin (20+x)^{\circ}\implies 40-x=20+x\implies x=10^{\circ}.$$
Best Answer
This is my approach to this problem:
Extend $BC$ and $AD$ such that they intersect at point $E$. Since $\angle ECD=90$ and $\angle EDC=30$, we can conclude that $\angle AEB=60$, $\triangle AEB$ is equilateral and $\triangle CED$ is a $30-60-90$ triangle. Let $DE=2a$, this means that $CE=a$. Since $\triangle AEB$ is equilateral we can say that:
$$48+2a=60+a$$
$$a=12$$
Therefore, $x=60+a=60+12=72$