Maths Olympiad Prep

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CEMC Cayley, 2022

Geometry Difficulty 1.2 Junior Find the answer Canada

Points AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, and FF are evenly spaced around the circle
with centre OO, as shown.

Figure 0

The measure of ∠AOC\angle AOC is

Pick one

Solution

Solution 1

Since AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, and FF are equally spaced around the circle,
moving from one point to the next corresponds to moving 16\frac{1}{6} of the way around the
circle.

Therefore, moving from AA to CC corresponds to moving 26\frac{2}{6} (or 13\frac{1}{3}) of the way around the
circle.

Since moving around the whole circle corresponds to moving through 360°360\degree, then moving 13\frac{1}{3} of the way around the circle
corresponds to moving through 13×360°=120°\frac{1}{3} \times 360\degree = 120\degree.

Thus, ∠AOC=120°\angle AOC = 120\degree.

Solution 2

We join AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, and FF to OO.

Figure 1

Since AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, and FF are equally spaced around the circle,
the angles made at the centre by consecutive points are equal. That is,
∠AOB=∠BOC=∠COD=∠DOE=∠EOF=∠FOA\angle AOB = \angle BOC = \angle COD = \angle DOE = \angle EOF = \angle FOA Since these 6 angles form
a complete circle, the sum of their measures is 360°360\degree.

Therefore, ∠AOB=∠BOC=∠COD=∠DOE=∠EOF=∠FOA=16×360°=60°\angle AOB = \angle BOC = \angle COD = \angle DOE = \angle EOF = \angle FOA = \tfrac{1}{6} \times 360\degree = 60\degree This means that ∠AOC=∠AOB+∠BOC=60°+60°=120°\angle AOC = \angle AOB + \angle BOC = 60\degree + 60\degree = 120\degree.

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