Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 7 / 67 of 300 #1467 of 1964

Problem 1467

National olympiad second round; IMO P1/P4
Geometry Difficulty 7.1 Multiple choice

Let SS be a square of side length 11. Two points are chosen independently at random on the sides of SS. The probability that the straight-line distance between the points is at least 12\tfrac12 is abπc\tfrac{a-b\pi}c, where aa, bb, and cc are positive integers and gcd(a,b,c)=1\gcd(a,b,c)=1. What is a+b+ca+b+c?

Pick one

Official solution

1. Let the square be ABCDABCD with side length 1. Suppose the two points chosen are PP and QQ. Without loss of generality, let PP lie on AB\overline{AB} with PP closer to AA than BB. Denote the length AP=xAP = x.

2. To find the probability that the straight-line distance between PP and QQ is at least 12\frac{1}{2}, we need to consider the regions on the perimeter of the square where QQ can lie such that the distance PQ12PQ \geq \frac{1}{2}.

3. The length of the portion of AB\overline{AB} that is within 12\frac{1}{2} units of PP is 12+x\frac{1}{2} + x. By the Pythagorean Theorem, the length of the portion of AD\overline{AD} that is within 12\frac{1}{2} units of PP is:
(12)2x2=1214x2. \sqrt{\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^2 - x^2} = \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2}.

4. Therefore, the total perimeter of the square that is not within 12\frac{1}{2} units of PP is:
4(12+x+1214x2). 4 - \left(\frac{1}{2} + x + \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2}\right).

5. The probability that QQ lies outside of 12\frac{1}{2} units of PP is:
4(12+x+1214x2)4=78x41814x2. \frac{4 - \left(\frac{1}{2} + x + \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2}\right)}{4} = \frac{7}{8} - \frac{x}{4} - \frac{1}{8}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2}.

6. We want the average probability that QQ lies outside of 12\frac{1}{2} units of PP. This is the average value of the function f(x)=78x41814x2f(x) = \frac{7}{8} - \frac{x}{4} - \frac{1}{8}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2} as PP ranges from AA to the midpoint of AB\overline{AB} (i.e., xx ranges from 0 to 12\frac{1}{2}).

7. The average value of ff is given by:
1(12)012f(x)dx=2012(78x41814x2)dx. \frac{1}{\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)} \int_{0}^{\frac{1}{2}} f(x) \, dx = 2\int_{0}^{\frac{1}{2}} \left(\frac{7}{8} - \frac{x}{4} - \frac{1}{8}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2}\right) \, dx.

8. The left integral simplifies to:
2[7x8x28]012=2(716132)=1316. 2\left[\frac{7x}{8} - \frac{x^2}{8}\right]_{0}^{\frac{1}{2}} = 2\left(\frac{7}{16} - \frac{1}{32}\right) = \frac{13}{16}.

9. For the right integral, we make the substitution t=2xt = 2x so that dx=dt2dx = \frac{dt}{2}:
1401214x2dx=14011t2(dt2)=18011t2dt. \frac{1}{4}\int_{0}^{\frac{1}{2}} \sqrt{1 - 4x^2} \, dx = \frac{1}{4} \int_{0}^{1} \sqrt{1 - t^2} \, \left(\frac{dt}{2}\right) = \frac{1}{8} \int_{0}^{1} \sqrt{1 - t^2} \, dt.

10. The integral 011t2dt\int_{0}^{1} \sqrt{1 - t^2} \, dt represents the area of a quarter circle of radius 1, which is π4\frac{\pi}{4}. Therefore:
18(π4)=π32. \frac{1}{8}\left(\frac{\pi}{4}\right) = \frac{\pi}{32}.

11. Therefore, our desired probability is:
1316π32=26π32. \frac{13}{16} - \frac{\pi}{32} = \frac{26 - \pi}{32}.

12. The final answer is a+b+c=26+1+32=59a + b + c = 26 + 1 + 32 = 59.

The final answer is 59\boxed{59}.

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