Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Find the answer

Proyasov B.Y.

Two circles with radii 1 and 2 have a common center at point OO. Vertex AA of an equilateral triangle ABCABC lies on the larger circle, and the midpoint of side BCBC lies on the smaller circle. What can the angle BOCBOC be equal to?

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

## Author: Oschekina M

Consider the case when points OO and AA lie in the same half-plane relative to the line BCB C (see the left figure). Let KK be the midpoint of BCB C, and GG be the point of intersection of the medians of triangle ABCA B C. Extend the segment OKO K until it intersects the larger circle at point O1O_{1}. Then KK is also the midpoint of segment OO1O O_{1}, so BOCO1B O C O_{1} is a parallelogram. GG is the point of intersection of the medians of triangle AOO1A O O_{1} as well, since AKA K is a median of this triangle, and AG:GK=2:1A G: G K=2: 1. Since this triangle is isosceles, the median OGO G is also the bisector, which implies the congruence of triangles AGOA G O and O1GOO_{1} G O. Therefore, GO1=GA=GB=GCG O_{1}=G A=G B=G C, meaning that points A,B,C,O1A, B, C, O_{1} lie on a circle with center GG. Hence, BO1C=180A=60\angle B O_{1} C=180^{\circ}-\angle A=60^{\circ}. Similarly, considering the second case, we get BO1C=120\angle B O_{1} C=120^{\circ}.
!

## Answer

6060^{\circ} or 120120^{\circ}.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.