A classical minimization problem

Geometry Level 5

An isosceles trapezoid has its four vertices as follows: A ( 0 , 0 ) , B ( 10 , 0 ) , C ( 7 , 5 ) , D ( 3 , 5 ) A(0, 0), B(10, 0), C(7, 5), D(3, 5) . We want to circumscribe an ellipse around the trapezoid. There is an infinite number of such ellipses. We want to choose the one with minimum area. Find that minimum area A min A_{\text{min}} and report the value of 100 A min \lfloor 100 A_{\text{min}} \rfloor .


The answer is 6297.

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

K T
Apr 16, 2021

If we translate the trapezoid over ( 5 , 0 ) (-5,0) , the y-axis bexomes the vertical axis of symmetry. Let y = y 0 y=y_0 be the horizontal axis of symmetry, then we have the following equation for the ellipse: x 2 a 2 + ( y y 0 ) 2 b 2 = 1 \frac{x^2}{a^2} + \frac{(y-y0)^2}{b^2}=1 Filling in the coordinates of the two known points ( x , y ) = ( 5 , 0 ) (x,y)=(5,0) and ( x , y ) = ( 2 , 5 ) (x,y)=(2,5) gives two equations that must hold: 25 a 2 + y 0 2 b 2 = 1 (I) \frac{25}{a^2}+\frac{y_0^2}{b^2}=1 \tag{I} 4 a 2 + ( 5 y 0 ) 2 b 2 = 1 (II) \frac{4}{a^2}+\frac{(5-y_0)^2}{b^2}=1 \tag{II}

Subtract 4 b 2 4b^2 times (I) from 25 b 2 25b^2 times (II) and rearrange to get b 2 = y 0 2 250 21 y 0 + 625 21 b^2=y_0^2-\frac{250}{21}y_0+\frac{625}{21}

and rewrite (I) as a 2 = 25 b 2 b 2 y 0 2 = 25 21 y 0 2 250 y 0 + 625 625 250 y 0 a^2=\frac{25b^2}{b^2-y_0^2}=25\frac{21y_0^2-250y_0+625}{625-250y_0}

Now since the quantity a 2 b 2 a^2b^2 is a constant times the area squared ( A = π a b A=πab ), at minimum area it must be stationary. a 2 b 2 = ( 21 y 0 2 250 y 0 + 625 ) 2 21 ( 25 10 y 0 ) a^2b^2=\frac{(21y_0^2-250y_0+625)^2}{21(25-10y_0)} Using the quotient and chain rules we set the derivative to 0:

d 21 a 2 b 2 d y 0 = 2 ( . . . ) ( 42 y 0 250 ) ( 25 10 y 0 ) + 10 ( . . . ) 2 ( 25 10 y 0 ) 2 = 0 \frac{d 21 a^2b^2}{dy_0} =\frac{2(...)(42y_0-250)(25-10y_0)+10(...)^2}{(25-10y_0)^2}=0

where (...) is shorthand for 21 y 0 2 250 y 0 + 625 21y_0^2-250y_0+625 . Because we demand that b 0 b \neq 0 we can divide by (...) and simplify to find

63 y 0 2 460 y 0 + 625 = 0 63y_0^2-460y_0+625=0 This gives two values for y 0 y_0 . The larger value would give b 2 < 0 b^2<0 , so we take the smaller root y 0 = 460 46 0 2 4 × 63 × 625 126 = 1.80480899... y_0=\frac{460-\sqrt{460^2-4×63×625}}{126}=1.80480899... From y 0 y_0 we calculate A = π a 2 b 2 = 62.974613... A=π\sqrt{a^2b^2}=62.974613... and find the answer 100 A = 6297 \lfloor{100A\rfloor=\boxed{6297}}

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...