Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it United States

Problem:

Let Γ\Gamma be a circle of radius 11 centered at OO. A circle Ω\Omega is said to be friendly if there exist distinct circles ω1,ω2,,ω2020\omega_{1}, \omega_{2}, \ldots, \omega_{2020}, such that for all 1i20201 \leq i \leq 2020, ωi\omega_{i} is tangent to Γ\Gamma, Ω\Omega, and ωi+1\omega_{i+1}. (Here, ω2021=ω1\omega_{2021}=\omega_{1}.) For each point PP in the plane, let f(P)f(P) denote the sum of the areas of all friendly circles centered at PP. If AA and BB are points such that OA=12OA=\frac{1}{2} and OB=13OB=\frac{1}{3}, determine f(A)f(B)f(A)-f(B).

Solution

Solution:

Let PP satisfy OP=xOP = x. (For now, we focus on f(P)f(P) and ignore the AA and BB from the problem statement.) The key idea is that if we invert at some point along OPOP such that the images of Γ\Gamma and Ω\Omega are concentric, then ωi\omega_{i} still exist. Suppose that this inversion fixes Γ\Gamma and takes Ω\Omega to Ω\Omega' of radius rr (and XX to XX' in general). If the inversion is centered at a point QQ along ray OPOP such that OQ=dOQ = d, then the radius of inversion is d21\sqrt{d^2-1}. Let the diameter of Ω\Omega meet OQOQ at AA and BB with AA closer to QQ than BB. Then, (AB;PP)=1(AB; PP_{\infty}) = -1 inverts to (AB;PQ)=1(A'B'; P'Q) = -1, where PP_{\infty} is the point at infinity along line OPOP, so PP' is the inverse of QQ in Ω\Omega'. We can compute OP=r2dOP' = \frac{r^2}{d} so PQ=dr2dP'Q = d - \frac{r^2}{d} and PQ=d21dr2dPQ = \frac{d^2-1}{d-\frac{r^2}{d}}. Thus, we get the equation d21dr2d+x=d\frac{d^2-1}{d-\frac{r^2}{d}} + x = d, which rearranges to 1r2d2r2d=x\frac{1-r^2}{d^2-r^2} d = x, or d2x1(1r2)dr2=0d^2 - x^{-1}(1-r^2)d - r^2 = 0.

Now, we note that the radius of Ω\Omega is

12AB=12(d21drd21d+r)=r(d21)d2r2=r(1+r21d2r2)=r(1xd) \frac{1}{2} AB = \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{d^2-1}{d-r} - \frac{d^2-1}{d+r}\right) = \frac{r(d^2-1)}{d^2-r^2} = r\left(1 + \frac{r^2-1}{d^2-r^2}\right) = r\left(1 - \frac{x}{d}\right)

The quadratic formula gives us that d=(1r2)±r4(24x2)r2+12xd = \frac{(1-r^2) \pm \sqrt{r^4 - (2-4x^2)r^2 + 1}}{2x}, so xd=1r2±r4(24x2)r2+12r2\frac{x}{d} = -\frac{1-r^2 \pm \sqrt{r^4 - (2-4x^2)r^2 + 1}}{2r^2}, which means that the radius of Ω\Omega is

r2+1±r4(24x2)r2+12r=r+1r±r2+1r22+4x22 \frac{r^2+1 \pm \sqrt{r^4 - (2-4x^2)r^2 + 1}}{2r} = \frac{r + \frac{1}{r} \pm \sqrt{r^2 + \frac{1}{r^2} - 2 + 4x^2}}{2}

Note that if rr gives a valid chain of 2020 circles, so will 1r\frac{1}{r} by homothety/inversion. Thus, we can think of each pair of r,1rr, \frac{1}{r} as giving rise to two possible values of the radius of Ω\Omega, which are r+1r±r2+1r212\frac{r + \frac{1}{r} \pm \sqrt{r^2 + \frac{1}{r^2} - 1}}{2}. This means that the pairs have the same sum of radii as the circles centered at OO, and the product of the radii is 1x21-x^2. (A simpler way to see this is to note that inversion at PP with radius 1x2\sqrt{1-x^2} swaps the two circles.)

From this, it follows that the difference between the sum of the areas for each pair is 2π(122132)=518π2\pi\left(\frac{1}{2^2} - \frac{1}{3^2}\right) = \frac{5}{18}\pi. There are φ(2020)2=400\frac{\varphi(2020)}{2} = 400 such pairs, which can be explicitly computed as 1sinπk20201+sinπk2020,1+sinπk20201sinπk2020\frac{1-\sin\frac{\pi k}{2020}}{1+\sin\frac{\pi k}{2020}}, \frac{1+\sin\frac{\pi k}{2020}}{1-\sin\frac{\pi k}{2020}} for positive integers k<1010k < 1010 relatively prime to 20202020.

Thus, the answer is 10009π\frac{1000}{9}\pi.

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