2017 AIME I Problems/Problem 8

Revision as of 14:46, 10 March 2017 by Leesisi (talk | contribs) (Solution 2 (Trig Bash))

Problem 8

Two real numbers $a$ and $b$ are chosen independently and uniformly at random from the interval $(0, 75)$. Let $O$ and $P$ be two points on the plane with $OP = 200$. Let $Q$ and $R$ be on the same side of line $OP$ such that the degree measures of $\angle POQ$ and $\angle POR$ are $a$ and $b$ respectively, and $\angle OQP$ and $\angle ORP$ are both right angles. The probability that $QR \leq 100$ is equal to $\frac{m}{n}$, where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers. Find $m + n$.

Solution 1

Noting that $\angle OQP$ and $\angle ORP$ are right angles, we realize that we can draw a semicircle with diameter $\overline{OP}$ and points $Q$ and $R$ on the semicircle. Since the radius of the semicircle is $100$, if $\overline{QR} \leq 100$, then $\overarc{QR}$ must be less than or equal to $60^{\circ}$.

This simplifies the problem greatly. Since the degree measure of an angle on a circle is simply half the degree measure of its subtended arc, the problem is simply asking:

Given $a, b$ such that $0<a, b<75$, what is the probability that $|a-b| \leq 30$?

Through simple geometric probability, we get that $P = \frac{16}{25}$.

The answer is $16+25=\boxed{041}$

~IYN~

Solution 2 (Trig Bash)

Put $\triangle POQ$ and $\triangle POR$ with $O$ on the origin and the triangles on the 1st quadrant the coordinates of $Q$ and $P$ is $(200 \cos^{2}a,200 \cos a\sin a )$, $(200\cos^{2}b,200\cos(b)\sin b)$. So $PQ^{2}$ = $(200 \cos^{2} a - 200 \cos^{2} b)^{2} +(200 \cos a \sin a - 200 \cos b \sin b)^{2}$, which we want to be less then $100^{2}$. So $(200 \cos^{2} a - 200 \cos^{2} b)^{2} +(200 \cos a \sin a - 200 \cos b \sin b)^{2} <= 100^{2}$ \[(\cos^{2} a - \cos^{2} b)^{2} +(\cos a \sin a - \cos b \sin b)^{2} \le \frac{1}{4}\] \[\cos^{4} a + \cos^{4} b - 2\cos^{2} a \cos^{2} b +\cos^{2}a \sin^{2} a + \cos^{2} b \sin^{2} b - 2 \cos a \sin a \cos b \sin b \le \frac{1}{4}\] \[\cos^{2} a(\cos^{2} a + \sin^{2} a)+\cos^{2} b(cos^{2} b+sin^{2} b) - 2\cos^{2} a \cos^{2} b- 2 \cos a \sin a \cos b \sin b \le \frac{1}{4}\] \[\cos^{2} a(1-\cos^{2} b)+\cos^{2} b(1-cos^{2} a) - 2 \cos a \sin a \cos b \sin b \le \frac{1}{4}\] \[(\cos a\sin b)^{2} - 2 (\cos a \sin b)(\cos b \sin a)+(\cos b\sin a)^{2} \le \frac{1}{4}\] \[(\cos a\sin b-\cos b\sin a)^{2}\le \frac{1}{4}\] \[\sin^{2} (b-a) \le \frac{1}{4}\] So we want $-\frac{1}{2} \le \sin b-a \le \frac{1}{2}$ or $-30 \le b-a \le 30$. So as the above solution states, the probability is $\frac{16}{25}$ and the answer is $16+25 = \boxed{41}$ $Solution by Leesisi$

See Also

2017 AIME I (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 7
Followed by
Problem 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions

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