As shown above, one ellipse and one circle are arranged in an equilateral triangle. There exists the unique value of eccentricity such that:
Input as your answer.
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If the radius of the circle is r and the semimajor and semiminor axes of the ellipse are a , b , then r 2 = a b and the ellipse
a 2 x 2 + b 2 ( y − b ) 2 = 1 must be tangent to the two lines y = 3 r + 2 b ± x 3 , and hence 3 a 2 + b 2 3 a 2 a 2 = ( 3 r + b ) 2 = 9 r 2 + 6 r b = 3 a b + 2 b a b so that ( 1 − 3 u ) 2 = 4 u 3 where u = a b . Thus we deduce that u = 4 1 (the other solution u = 1 may be a solution of this last equation, but the corresponding b = a is not a solution of the previous equation - squaring an equation can create bogus solutions). Thus the eccentricity is e = 1 − u 2 = 4 1 1 5 , which makes the answer 9 6 8 2 4 5 .