2001 AMC 12 Problems/Problem 17

Revision as of 14:17, 16 February 2009 by Misof (talk | contribs) (New page: == Problem == A point <math>P</math> is selected at random from the interior of the pentagon with vertices <math>A = (0,2)</math>, <math>B = (4,0)</math>, <math>C = (2 \pi + 1, 0)</math>,...)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Problem

A point $P$ is selected at random from the interior of the pentagon with vertices $A = (0,2)$, $B = (4,0)$, $C = (2 \pi + 1, 0)$, $D = (2 \pi + 1,4)$, and $E=(0,4)$. What is the probability that $\angle APB$ is obtuse?

$\text{(A) }\frac {1}{5} \qquad \text{(B) }\frac {1}{4} \qquad \text{(C) }\frac {5}{16} \qquad \text{(D) }\frac {3}{8} \qquad \text{(E) }\frac {1}{2}$

Solution

The angle $APB$ is obtuse if and only if $P$ lies inside the circle with diameter $AB$. (This follows for example from the fact that the inscribed angle is half of the central angle for the same arc.)

[asy] defaultpen(0.8); real pi=3.14159265359; pair A=(0,2), B=(4,0), C=(2*pi+1, 0), D=(2*pi+1,4), E=(0,4), F=(0,0); draw(A--B--C--D--E--cycle); draw(circle((A+B)/2,length(B-A)/2)); label("$A$",A,W); label("$B$",B,SE); label("$C$",C,SE); label("$D$",D,NE); label("$E$",E,NW); label("$F$",F,SW); draw(A--F--B,dashed); [/asy]

The area of $AFB$ is $[AFB] = \frac {AF\cdot FB}2 = 4$, and the area of $ABCDE$ is $CD\cdot DE - [AFB] = 4\cdot (2\pi+1) - 4 = 8\pi$.

From the Pythagorean theorem the length of $AB$ is $\sqrt{2^2 + 4^2} = 2\sqrt{5}$, thus the radius of the circle is $\sqrt{5}$, and the area of the half-circle that is inside $ABCDE$ is $\frac{ 5\pi }2$.

Therefore the probability that $APB$ is obtuse is $\frac{ \frac{ 5\pi }2 }{ 8\pi } = \boxed{\frac 5{16}}$.

See Also

2001 AMC 12 (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 16
Followed by
Problem 18
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 AMC 12 Problems and Solutions