2018 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 21
- The following problem is from both the 2018 AMC 12A #16 and 2018 AMC 10A #21, so both problems redirect to this page.
Contents
Problem
Which of the following describes the set of values of for which the curves
and
in the real
-plane intersect at exactly
points?
Solution 1
Substituting into
, we get
Since this is a quartic, there are 4 total roots (counting multiplicity). We see that
always at least one intersection at
(and is in fact a double root).
The other two intersection points have coordinates
. We must have
otherwise we are in the case where the parabola lies entirely above the circle (tangent to it at the point
). This only results in a single intersection point in the real coordinate plane. Thus, we see
.
(projecteulerlover)
Solution 2
Looking at a graph, it is obvious that the two curves intersect at (0, -a). We also see that if the parabola goes 'in' the circle, then by going out of it (as it will), it will intersect five times, an impossibility. Thus we only look for cases where the parabola becomes externally tangent to the circle. We have . Squaring both sides and solving yields
. Since
is already accounted for, we only need to find 1 solution for
, where the right hand side portion is obviously increasing. Since
begets
(an overcount), we have
is the right answer.
Solution by JohnHankock
Solution 3 (Observations)
We can see that if , we know that the points where the two curves intersect are
and
.Because there are only 3 intersections and
, as well as
we know that either
or
is the correct answer. Then we can test a number from
to eliminate the remaining answer. So
is the correct answer.
Solution by josephwidjaja
Fixed by username_taken12 (previous solution was true for both D and E)
Solution 4 (Calculus Needed)
In order to solve for the values of , we need to just count multiplicities of the roots when the equations are set equal to each other: in other words, take the derivative. We know that
. Now, we take square of both sides, and rearrange to obtain
. Now, we may take the second derivative of the equation to obtain
. Now, we must take discriminant. Since we need the roots of that equation to be real and not repetitive (otherwise they would not intersect each other at three points), the discriminant must be greater than zero. Thus,
The answer is
and we are done.
~awesome1st
(Edited by OlutosinNGA)
Solution 5
This describes a unit parabola, with a circle centered on the axis of symmetry and tangent to the vertex. As the curvature of the unit parabola at the vertex is 2, the radius of the circle that matches it has a radius of . This circle is tangent to an infinitesimally close pair of points, one on each side. Therefore, it is tangent to only 1 point. When a larger circle is used, it is tangent to 3 points because the points on either side are now separated from the vertex. Therefore,
is correct.
Solution 6
Notice, the equations are of that of a circle of radius a centered at the origin and a parabola translated down by a units. They always intersect at the point , and they have symmetry across the y-axis, thus, for them to intersect at exactly 3 points, it suffices to find the y solution.
First, rewrite the second equation to
And substitute into the first equation:
Since we're only interested in seeing the interval in which a can exist, we find the discriminant:
. This value must not be less than 0 (It is the square root part of the quadratic formula). To find when it is 0, we find the roots:
Since
, our range is
.
Solution by ktong
Solution 7 (Cheating with Answer Choices)
Simply plug in and solve the systems. (This shouldn't take too long.) And then realize that only
yields three real solutions for
, so we are done and the answer is
.
~ ccx09
Solution 8
Substituting gives
, which simplifies to
. This further simplifies to
. Thus, either
, or
. Since we care about
, we consider the second case. Then, we solve in terms of
giving
. We see that in order to find the range in which
lies, we must find the vertex of the that equation, which turns out to be
, so we know that the minimum is
, which further implies that
Solution 9
Now, let's graph these two equations. We want the blue parabola to be inside this red circle.
Then we substitute
into the first equation to get
. Expanding, we get
. Factoring out the
, we get
. Then we find that
or
. Therefore,
, which means
.
- kante314 - ~ minor edit by junokim1011
Solution 10(not rigorous)
An ideal solution come to mind is where they intersect at the -axis at the same time, which is
and
Take the root of our
we get
, set them equal we get
The only answer is
so it only left us with the answer choice
.
~@azure123456
Video Solution by Richard Rusczyk
https://artofproblemsolving.com/videos/amc/2018amc10a/466
~ dolphin7
See Also
2018 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 20 |
Followed by Problem 22 | |
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 |
2018 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | |
Preceded by Problem 15 |
Followed by Problem 17 |
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 |
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