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Geometry Difficulty 3.2 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

A circle is circumscribed about a triangle with sides 20,21,20,21, and 29,29, thus dividing the interior of the circle into four regions. Let A,B,A,B, and CC be the areas of the non-triangular regions, with CC be the largest. Then

Pick one

Solution

202+212=841=29220^2 + 21^2 = 841 = 29^2. Therefore the triangle is a right triangle. But then its hypotenuse is a diameter of the circumcircle, and thus CC is exactly one half of the circle. Moreover, the area of the triangle is 20212=210\frac{20\cdot 21}{2} = 210. Therefore the area of the other half of the circumcircle can be expressed as A+B+210A+B+210. Thus the answer is (B)\boxed{\mathrm{(B)}}.
To complete the solution, note that (A)\mathrm{(A)} is clearly false. As A+B<CA+B < C, we have A2+B2<(A+B)2<C2A^2 + B^2 < (A+B)^2 < C^2 and thus (C)\mathrm{(C)} is false. Similarly 20A+21B<21(A+B)<21C<29C20A + 21B < 21(A+B) < 21C < 29C, thus (D)\mathrm{(D)} is false. And finally, since 0<A<C0<A<C, 1C2<1A2<1A2+1B2\frac 1{C^2} < \frac1{A^2} < \frac 1{A^2} + \frac 1{B^2}, thus (E)\mathrm{(E)} is false as well.

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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.