Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 3.5 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

Two circles of radius 1 are to be constructed as follows. The center of circle AA is chosen uniformly and at random from the line segment joining (0,0)(0,0) and (2,0)(2,0). The center of circle BB is chosen uniformly and at random, and independently of the first choice, from the line segment joining (0,1)(0,1) to (2,1)(2,1). What is the probability that circles AA and BB intersect?

Pick one

Solution

Circles centered at AA and BB will overlap if AA and BB are closer to each other than if the circles were tangent. The circles are tangent when the distance between their centers is equal to the sum of their radii. Thus, the distance from AA to BB will be 22. Since AA and BB are separated by 11 vertically, they must be separated by 3\sqrt{3} horizontally. Thus, if AxBx<3|A_x-B_x|<\sqrt{3}, the circles intersect.
Now, plot the two random variables AxA_x and BxB_x on the coordinate plane. Each variable ranges from 00 to 22. The circles intersect if the variables are within 3\sqrt{3} of each other. Thus, the area in which the circles don't intersect is equal to the total area of two small triangles on opposite corners, each of area (23)22\frac{(2-\sqrt{3})^2}{2}. So, the total area of the 2 triangles sums to (23)2(2-\sqrt{3})^2. Since the total 22x22 square has an area of 44, the probability of the circles not intersecting is (23)24\frac{(2-\sqrt{3})^2}{4}. But remember, we want the probability that they do intersect. We conclude the probability the circles intersect is:1(23)24=(E)4334.1-\frac{(2-\sqrt{3})^2}{4}=\boxed{\textbf{(E)}\frac{4\sqrt{3}-3}{4}}.

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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.