2018 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 8

Problem

Line segment $\overline{AB}$ is a diameter of a circle with $AB = 24$ . Point $C$ , not equal to $A$ or $B$ , lies on the circle. As point $C$ moves around the circle, the centroid (center of mass) of $\triangle ABC$ traces out a closed curve missing two points. To the nearest positive integer, what is the area of the region bounded by this curve?

$\textbf{(A) } 25 \qquad \textbf{(B) } 38 \qquad \textbf{(C) } 50 \qquad \textbf{(D) } 63 \qquad \textbf{(E) } 75$

Solution

For each $\triangle ABC,$ note that the length of one median is $OC=12.$ Let $G$ be the centroid of $\triangle ABC.$ It follows that $OG=\frac13 OC=4.$

Two shapes of $\triangle ABC,$ namely $\triangle ABC_1$ and $\triangle ABC_2$ with their respective centroids $G_1$ and $G_2,$ are shown below:

DIAGRAM NEEDED

Therefore, point $G$ traces out a circle (missing two points) with the center $O$ and the radius $\overline{OG},$ as indicated in red. To the nearest positive integer, the area of the region bounded by the red curve is $\pi\cdot OG^2=16\pi\approx\boxed{\textbf{(C) } 50}.$

~MRENTHUSIASM

2018 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 7	Followed by Problem 9
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All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

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2018 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 8

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