2003 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 24
Problem
A ship travels from point 
to point 
along a semicircular path, centered at Island 
. Then it travels along a straight path from to 
. Which of these graphs best shows the ship's distance from Island as it moves along its course?
![[asy]size(150); pair X=origin, A=(-5,0), B=(5,0), C=(0,5); draw(Arc(X, 5, 180, 360)^^B--C); dot(X); label("$X$", X, NE); label("$C$", C, N); label("$B$", B, E); label("$A$", A, W); [/asy]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/9/1/9/91933f8be27c24174af480d964c31782da9f3bb4.png)
Solution
The distance from Island 
to any point on the semicircle will always be constant. On the graph, this will represent a straight line. The distance between Island and line 
will not be constant though. We can easily prove that the distance between and line will represent a curve. As the ship travels from B to C, the distance between the ship and X will first decrease until it reaches the point Y so that XY is perpendicular to BC, and then increase afterwards. Hence the answer choice that fits them all is 
.
See Also
| 2003 AMC 8 (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 AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions | ||
The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions. 
