Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /869 of 1394

, 2020

Geometry Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Find the answer United States

Problem:

Let Γ1\Gamma_{1} and Γ2\Gamma_{2} be concentric circles with radii 11 and 22, respectively. Four points are chosen on the circumference of Γ2\Gamma_{2} independently and uniformly at random, and are then connected to form a convex quadrilateral. What is the probability that the perimeter of this quadrilateral intersects Γ1\Gamma_{1}?

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Solution:

Figure 1

Define a triplet as three points on Γ2\Gamma_{2} that form the vertices of an equilateral triangle. Note that due to the radii being 11 and 22, the sides of a triplet are all tangent to Γ1\Gamma_{1}. Rather than choosing four points on Γ2\Gamma_{2} uniformly at random, we will choose four triplets of Γ2\Gamma_{2} uniformly at random and then choose a random point from each triplet. (This results in the same distribution.) Assume without loss of generality that the first step creates 1212 distinct points, as this occurs with probability 11.

In the set of twelve points, a segment between two of those points does not intersect Γ1\Gamma_{1} if and only if they are at most three vertices apart. (In the diagram shown above, the segments connecting R1R_{1} to the other red vertices are tangent to Γ1\Gamma_{1}, so the segments connecting R1R_{1} to the six closer vertices do not intersect Γ1\Gamma_{1}.) There are two possibilities for the perimeter of the convex quadrilateral to not intersect Γ1\Gamma_{1}: either the convex quadrilateral contains Γ1\Gamma_{1} or is disjoint from it.

Case 1: The quadrilateral contains Γ1\Gamma_{1}.

Each of the four segments of the quadrilateral passes at most three vertices, so the only possibility is that every third vertex is chosen. This is shown by the dashed quadrilateral in the diagram, and there are 33 such quadrilaterals.

Case 2: The quadrilateral does not contain Γ1\Gamma_{1}.

In this case, all of the chosen vertices are at most three apart. This is only possible if we choose four consecutive vertices, which is shown by the dotted quadrilateral in the diagram. There are 1212 such quadrilaterals.

Regardless of how the triplets are chosen, there are 8181 ways to pick four points and 12+3=1512+3=15 of these choices result in a quadrilateral whose perimeter does not intersect Γ1\Gamma_{1}. The desired probability is 1527=22271-\frac{5}{27}=\frac{22}{27}.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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