2014 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 15

Problem

The circumference of the circle with center $O$ is divided into $12$ equal arcs, marked the letters $A$ through $L$ as seen below. What is the number of degrees in the sum of the angles $x$ and $y$ ?

$[asy] size(230); defaultpen(linewidth(0.65)); pair O=origin; pair[] circum = new pair[12]; string[] let = {"$A$","$B$","$C$","$D$","$E$","$F$","$G$","$H$","$I$","$J$","$K$","$L$"}; draw(unitcircle); for(int i=0;i<=11;i=i+1) { circum[i]=dir(120-30*i); dot(circum[i],linewidth(2.5)); label(let[i],circum[i],2*dir(circum[i])); } draw(O--circum[4]--circum[0]--circum[6]--circum[8]--cycle); label("$x$",circum[0],2.75*(dir(circum[0]--circum[4])+dir(circum[0]--circum[6]))); label("$y$",circum[6],1.75*(dir(circum[6]--circum[0])+dir(circum[6]--circum[8]))); label("$O$",O,dir(60)); [/asy]$

$\textbf{(A) }75\qquad\textbf{(B) }80\qquad\textbf{(C) }90\qquad\textbf{(D) }120\qquad\textbf{(E) }150$

Solution

For this problem, it is useful to know that the measure of an inscribed angle is half the measure of its corresponding central angle. Since each unit arc is $\frac{1}{12}$ of the circle's circumference, each unit central angle measures $\left( \frac{360}{12} \right) ^{\circ}=30^{\circ}$ . Then, we know that the inscribed arc of $\angle x=60^{\circ}$ so $m\angle x=30^{\circ}$ ; and the inscribed arc of $\angle y=120^{\circ}$ so $m\angle y=60^{\circ}$ . $m\angle x+m\angle y=30+60=$ \framebox{(C) } $90$

2014 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 14	Followed by Problem 16
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
All AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.

Page

Toolbox

Search

2014 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 15

Problem

Solution

See Also