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Geometry Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Find the answer

A negligibly small beetle starts from the origin of a plane rectangular coordinate system. First, it travels 1 unit to the right to the point (1;0)(1 ; 0). There, it makes a 9090^{\circ} turn counterclockwise and travels 1/21 / 2 unit, thus reaching the point ( 1;1/21 ; 1 / 2 ). If it continues its journey in the same manner, that is, after each straight segment of its path, it turns 9090^{\circ} counterclockwise and then travels half the distance it just covered, which point will the beetle approach more and more?

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

Solution

I. solution. In the steps of the ox, it alternately changes its first and second coordinates. With its odd-numbered steps, it modifies its first coordinate, always in the opposite direction and a quarter of the magnitude of the previous one. Therefore, the modification of the first coordinate at kk, that is, after the (2k1)(2 k-1)-th step, will be

x2k1=114++(14)k1=1(14)k1(14) x_{2 k-1}=1-\frac{1}{4}+\ldots+\left(-\frac{1}{4}\right)^{k-1}=\frac{1-\left(-\frac{1}{4}\right)^{k}}{1-\left(-\frac{1}{4}\right)}

and its value remains the same after the 2k2 k-th step as well.

The second coordinate changes similarly, and its value after the 2k2 k-th step is

y2k=1218++12(14)k1=12x2k1 y_{2 k}=\frac{1}{2}-\frac{1}{8}+\ldots+\frac{1}{2}\left(-\frac{1}{4}\right)^{k-1}=\frac{1}{2} x_{2 k-1}

and its value remains the same after the (2k+1)(2 k+1)-th step as well. Since the powers of 4 are different integers, the kk-th one is greater than the kk-th positive integer, that is, 4k>k4^{k}>k. Therefore, 4k4^{k} grows beyond any bound as kk runs through the positive integers, and 4k4^{-k} approaches 0. Thus, the limit of xnx_{n} is 4/54 / 5, and the limit of yny_{n} is half of that, 2/52 / 5.

Let BnB_{n} denote the point (xn;yn)\left(x_{n} ; y_{n}\right) and BB the point (45;25)\left(\frac{4}{5} ; \frac{2}{5}\right). Since the distance between BnB_{n} and BB is less than the sum xxn+yyn\left|x-x_{n}\right|+\left|y-y_{n}\right|, and this sum approaches 0, the ox approaches the point B(45;25)B\left(\frac{4}{5} ; \frac{2}{5}\right) more and more closely.

II. solution. Let BnB_{n} still denote the position of the ox after the nn-th step, and B0B_{0} the origin.

!

The triangles BnBn+1Bn+2B_{n} B_{n+1} B_{n+2} for n=0,1,2,n=0,1,2, \ldots are all similar, as they are right-angled and the ratio of the legs BnBn+1B_{n} B_{n+1} and Bn+1Bn+2B_{n+1} B_{n+2} is 2:12: 1 regardless of nn. Specifically, in the triangles B0B1B2B_{0} B_{1} B_{2} and B2B3B4B_{2} B_{3} B_{4}, the angles at B0B_{0} and B2B_{2} are equal, and their sides are oppositely directed. Therefore, the hypotenuses of these triangles lie on the same line, and B4B_{4} lies on the segment B0B2B_{0} B_{2}. Similarly, we find that B5B_{5} lies on the segment B1B3B_{1} B_{3}, or the segment B4B5B_{4} B_{5} can be obtained by a 16:116: 1 reduction of the segment B0B1B_{0} B_{1} from the point BB. From this point onward, the entire path can be continued by applying this reduction to the broken line B0B1B2B3B4B_{0} B_{1} B_{2} B_{3} B_{4}, then to the result, and so on. In other words, if we apply a 16k:116^{k}: 1 reduction to the broken line T0=B0B1B2B3B4T_{0}=B_{0} B_{1} B_{2} B_{3} B_{4} from the center BB, we get exactly the broken line Tk=T_{k}= B4kB4k+1B4k+2B4k+3B4k+4B_{4 k} B_{4 k+1} B_{4 k+2} B_{4 k+3} B_{4 k+4}. Since among the points of the broken line T0T_{0}, B0B_{0} is the farthest from BB, we get that the points of TkT_{k} are at most B0B/16kB_{0} B / 16^{k} away from BB. Since this approaches 0 (which we can also verify as in the first solution, that 1/4k1 / 4^{k} approaches 0, although this can also be read directly from the latter statement), it follows that the ox gets closer and closer to the point BB.

The equation of the line B0B2B_{0} B_{2} is y=x/2y=x / 2, and that of B1B3B_{1} B_{3} is y=2(1x)y=2(1-x), so at their intersection, x=4/5,y=2/5x=4 / 5, y=2 / 5, thus the coordinates of BB are (45;25)\left(\frac{4}{5} ; \frac{2}{5}\right).

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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.