2005 AIME II Problems/Problem 8

Problem

Circles $C_1$ and $C_2$ are externally tangent, and they are both internally tangent to circle $C_3.$ The radii of $C_1$ and $C_2$ are 4 and 10, respectively, and the centers of the three circles are all collinear. A chord of $C_3$ is also a common external tangent of $C_1$ and $C_2.$ Given that the length of the chord is $\frac{m\sqrt{n}}p$ where $m,n,$ and $p$ are positive integers, $m$ and $p$ are relatively prime, and $n$ is not divisible by the square of any prime, find $m+n+p.$

Let $O_1, O_2, O_3$ be the centers and $r_1 = 4, r_2 = 10,r_3 = 14$ the radii of the circles $C_1, C_2, C_3$ . Let $T_1, T_2$ be the points of tangency from the common external tangent of $C_1, C_2$ , respectively, and let the extension of $\overline{T_1T_2}$ intersect the extension of $\overline{O_1O_2}$ at a point $H$ . Let the endpoints of the chord/tangent be $A,B$ , and the foot of the perpendicular from $O_3$ to $\overline{AB}$ be $T$ . From the similar right triangles $\triangle HO_1T_1 \sim \triangle HO_2T_2 \sim \triangle HO_3T$ ,

and the answer is $m+n+p=\boxed{405}$ .