Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2014

Geometry Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Let ω\omega be a fixed circle with radius 11, and let BCBC be a fixed chord of ω\omega such that BC=1BC = 1. The locus of the incenter of ABCABC as AA varies along the circumference of ω\omega bounds a region R\mathcal{R} in the plane. Find the area of R\mathcal{R}.

Solution

Solution:
Answer: π(333)1\pi\left(\frac{3-\sqrt{3}}{3}\right)-1

We will make use of the following lemmas.

Lemma 1: If ABCABC is a triangle with incenter II, then BIC=90+A2\angle BIC = 90 + \frac{A}{2}.

Proof: Consider triangle BICBIC. Since II is the intersection of the angle bisectors, IBC=B2\angle IBC = \frac{B}{2} and ICB=C2\angle ICB = \frac{C}{2}. It follows that
BIC=180B2C2=90+A2. \angle BIC = 180 - \frac{B}{2} - \frac{C}{2} = 90 + \frac{A}{2}.

Lemma 2: If AA is on major arc BCBC, then the circumcenter of BIC\triangle BIC is the midpoint of minor arc BCBC, and vice-versa.

Proof: Let MM be the midpoint of minor arc BCBC. It suffices to show that BMC+2BIC=360\angle BMC + 2\angle BIC = 360^\circ, since BM=MCBM = MC. This follows from Lemma 1 and the fact that BMC=180A\angle BMC = 180 - \angle A. The other case is similar.

Let OO be the center of ω\omega. Since BCBC has the same length as a radius, OBC\triangle OBC is equilateral. We now break the problem into cases depending on the location of AA.

Case 1: If AA is on major arc BCBC, then A=30\angle A = 30^\circ by inscribed angles. If MM is the midpoint of minor arc BCBC, then BMC=150\angle BMC = 150^\circ. Therefore, if II is the incenter of ABC\triangle ABC, then II traces out a circular segment bounded by BCBC with central angle 150150^\circ, on the same side of BCBC as AA.

Case 2: A similar analysis shows that II traces out a circular segment bounded by BCBC with central angle 3030^\circ, on the other side of BCBC.

The area of a circular segment of angle θ\theta (in radians) is given by 12θR212R2sinθ\frac{1}{2} \theta R^2 - \frac{1}{2} R^2 \sin \theta, where RR is the radius of the circular segment. By the Law of Cosines, since BC=1BC = 1, we also have that 2R22R2cosθ=12R^2 - 2R^2 \cos \theta = 1. Computation now gives the desired answer.

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