2006 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 17
Contents
[hide]Problem
Square has side length , a circle centered at has radius , and and are both rational. The circle passes through , and lies on . Point lies on the circle, on the same side of as . Segment is tangent to the circle, and . What is ?
Solution
Solution 1
One possibility is to use the coordinate plane, setting at the origin. Point will be and will be since , and are collinear and contain a diagonal of . The Pythagorean theorem results in
This implies that and ; dividing gives us .
Solution 2
First note that angle is right since is tangent to the circle. Using the Pythagorean Theorem on , then, we see
But it can also be seen that since lies on . Therefore, . Using the Law of Cosines on , we see
\[AE^2 &= s^2 + r^2 - 2sr\cos(135^\circ)\] (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)
Thus, since and are rational, and . So , , and .
See also
2006 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | |
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 |
The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.