2012 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 16
Problem
Circle has its center lying on circle . The two circles meet at and . Point in the exterior of lies on circle and , , and . What is the radius of circle ?
Solution
Solution 1
Let denote the radius of circle . Note that quadrilateral is cyclic. By Ptolomys Theorem we have that so that . Let t be the measure of angle . Since by the law of cosines on triangle we obtain . Again since is cyclic, the measure of angle . We apply the law of cosines to triangle so that . Since we obtain . But so that . .
Solution 2
Let us call the the radius of circle , and the radius of . Consider and . Both of these triangles have the same circumcircle (). From the Extended Law of Sines, we see that . Therefore, . We will now apply the Law of Cosines to and and get the equations
,
,
respectively. Because , this is a system of two equations and two variables. Solving for gives . .
See Also
2012 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | |
Preceded by Problem 15 |
Followed by Problem 17 |
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All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions |