Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.5 AIME Prove it JBMO

Problem:

Inside of a square whose side length is 11 there are a few circles such that the sum of their circumferences is equal to 1010. Show that there exists a line that meets at least four of these circles.

Solution

Solution:

Find projections of all given circles on one of the sides of the square. The projection of each circle is a segment whose length is equal to the length of a diameter of this circle. Since the sum of the lengths of all circles' diameters is equal to 10/π10 / \pi, it follows that the sum of the lengths of all mentioned projections is equal to 10/π>310 / \pi > 3. Because the side of the square is equal to 11, we conclude that at least one point is covered with at least four of these projections. Hence, a perpendicular line to the projection side passing through this point meets at least four of the given circles, so this is a line with the desired property.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.