Problem:
Two circles with radii and are externally tangent. Compute the largest possible area of a right triangle whose vertices are each on at least one of the circles.
, 2021
Solution
Solution:
In general, let the radii of the circles be , and let be the center of the larger circle. If both endpoints of the hypotenuse are on the same circle, the largest area occurs when the hypotenuse is a diameter of the larger circle, with .
If the endpoints of the hypotenuse are on different circles (as in the diagram above), then the distance from to is half the distance from to . Thus
and are simultaneously maximized when and , so the answer is .
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