2016 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 24
Contents
[hide]Problem
A quadrilateral is inscribed in a circle of radius . Three of the sides of this quadrilateral have length
. What is the length of the fourth side?
Solution
Solution 1 (Algebra)
To save us from getting big numbers with lots of zeros behind them, let's divide all side lengths by for now, then multiply it back at the end of our solution.
Construct quadrilateral on the circle with
being the missing side (Notice that since the side length is less than the radius, it will be very small on the top of the circle). Now, draw the radii from center
to
and
. Let the intersection of
and
be point
. Notice that
and
are perpendicular because
is a kite.
We set lengths equal to
. By the Pythagorean Theorem,
We solve for :
By Ptolemy's Theorem,
Substituting values,
Finally, we multiply back the that we divided by at the beginning of the problem to get
.
Solution 2 (Trigonometry Bash)
Construct quadrilateral on the circle with
being the missing side (Notice that since the side length is less than the radius, it will be very small on the top of the circle). Now, draw the radii from center
to
and
. Apply law of cosines on
; let
. We get the following equation:
Substituting the values in, we get
Canceling out, we get
Because
,
, and
are congruent,
. To find the remaining side (
), we simply have to apply the law of cosines to
. Now, to find
, we can derive a formula that only uses
:
Plugging in
, we get
. Now, applying law of cosines on triangle
, we get
Solution 3 (Easier trig)
Construct quadrilateral on the circle
with
being the missing side. Then, drop perpendiculars from
and
to (extended) line
, and let these points be
and
, respectively. Also, let
. From Law of Cosines on
, we have
.
Now, since
is isosceles with
, we have that
. By SSS congruence, we have that
, so we have that
, so
.
Thus, we have
, so
. Similarly,
, and
.
See Also
2016 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 23 |
Followed by Problem 25 | |
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 10 Problems and Solutions |
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