Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 4 / 65 of 340 #325 of 1964

Problem 325

AMC 12 late, AIME early
Geometry Difficulty 4.6 Find the answer

Example 1. Calculate the side length of a square inscribed in the ellipse x2a2+y2b2=1\frac{x^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{y^{2}}{b^{2}}=1. (Problem 14, Page 171)

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

Official solution

Solve As shown in Figure 1, let the vertex A of the square inscribed in the ellipse in the first quadrant be
{x=acosθ,y=bsinθ \left\{\begin{array}{l} x=a \cos \theta, \\ y=b \sin \theta \end{array}\right.
(obviously 0<θ<x20<\theta<\frac{x}{2})
From x=xx=x, we have acosθ=bsinθa \cos \theta=b \sin \theta, i.e., tgθ=ab\operatorname{tg} \theta=\frac{a}{b}.
Thus, sinθ=aa2+b2\sin \theta=\frac{a}{\sqrt{a^{2}+b^{2}}}.

Therefore, the side length of the square is 2y=2bsinθ=2aba2+b22 y=2 b \sin \theta=\frac{2 a b}{\sqrt{a^{2}+b^{2}}}.

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