Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.1 AIME Find the answer United States

Problem:
In a square of side length 44, a point on the interior of the square is randomly chosen and a circle of radius 11 is drawn centered at the point. What is the probability that the circle intersects the square exactly twice?

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

Solution

Solution:
Answer: π+816\frac{\pi+8}{16}
Consider the two intersection points of the circle and the square, which are either on the same side of the square or adjacent sides of the square. In order for the circle to intersect a side of the square twice, it must be at distance at most 11 from that side and at least 11 from all other sides. The region of points where the center could be forms a 2×12 \times 1 rectangle.

In the other case, a square intersects a pair of adjacent sides once each if it is at distance at most one from the corner, so that the circle contains the corner. The region of points where the center could be is a quarter-circle of radius 11.

The total area of the regions where the center could be is π+8\pi+8, so the probability is π+816\frac{\pi+8}{16}.

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