GeometryDifficulty 7.7National Olympiad, round 2Prove itBaltic Way
Problem:
The following construction is used for training astronauts: A circle C2 of radius 2R rolls along the inside of another, fixed circle C1 of radius nR, where n is an integer greater than 2. The astronaut is fastened to a third circle C3 of radius R which rolls along the inside of circle C2 in such a way that the touching point of the circles C2 and C3 remains at maximum distance from the touching point of the circles C1 and C2 at all times (see Figure 3).
How many revolutions (relative to the ground) does the astronaut perform together with the circle C3 while the circle C2 completes one full lap around the inside of circle C1?
Figure 3
Solution
Solution:
Consider a circle C4 with radius R that rolls inside C2 in such a way that the two circles always touch in the point opposite to the touching point of C2 and C3. Then the circles C3 and C4 follow each other and make the same number of revolutions, and so we will assume that the astronaut is inside the circle C4 instead. But the touching point of C2 and C4 coincides with the touching point of C1 and C2. Hence the circles C4 and C1 always touch each other, and we can disregard the circle C2 completely.
Suppose the circle C4 rolls inside C1 in counterclockwise direction. Then the astronaut revolves in clockwise direction. If the circle C4 had rolled along a straight line of length 2πnR (instead of the inside of C1), the circle C4 would have made n revolutions during its movement. As the path of the circle C4 makes a 360∘ counterclockwise turn itself, the total number of revolutions of the astronaut relative to the ground is n−1.
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