Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Philippines

Problem:

Three distinct diameters are drawn on a unit circle such that chords are drawn as shown in Figure 2. If the length of one chord is 2\sqrt{2} units and the other two chords are of equal lengths, what is the common length of these chords?

Figure 1
Figure 2: Problem 60.1.

Solution

Solution:

22\sqrt{2-\sqrt{2}} units

Refer to Figure 7. Let θ\theta be the central angle subtended by the chord of length 2\sqrt{2}, and α\alpha the central angle subtended by each of the chords of equal lengths (and let xx be this common length). By the Law of Cosines, we have
x2=12+122cosα=22cosα x^{2}=1^{2}+1^{2}-2 \cos \alpha=2-2 \cos \alpha
Since θ+2α=180\theta+2 \alpha=180^{\circ}, we get
cosα=cos(90θ2)=sinθ2=22 \cos \alpha=\cos \left(90^{\circ}-\frac{\theta}{2}\right)=\sin \frac{\theta}{2}=\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}
We can then solve for xx.

Figure 2
Figure 7: Problem 60.1.

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