Going round in circles

Geometry Level 4

In the above diagram, a circle C 1 C_1 centred at point A A is constructed and two points B B and C C on the circumference are chosen. Next, another circle C 2 C_2 centred at B B with radius B C BC is constructed and point D D is where C 2 C_2 intersects A B AB . Interestingly, if I were to construct a third circle C 3 C_3 centred at D D with radius A D AD , point C C would also lie on this circle.

Let X X be the circumference of circle C 1 C_1 while Y Y be the length of arc B C BC . Then, X Y = ? \frac{X}{Y}=\boxed{?}


The answer is 14.

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1 solution

Noel Lo
Jul 17, 2017

Let C A D = x \angle CAD=x . Then considering circle C 3 C_3 where A D = C D = r C 3 , AD=CD=r_{C_3}, , we see that A C D = C A D = x \angle ACD=\angle CAD=x . It then follows that B D C = A C D + C A D = x + x = ( 1 + 1 ) x = 2 x \angle BDC=\angle ACD+\angle CAD=x+x=(1+1)x=2x . Similarly, considering circle C 2 C_2 where B C = B D BC=BD , we have B C D = B D C = 2 x . \angle BCD=\angle BDC=2x.

Next, we also deduce that B C A = B C D + A C D = 2 x + x = ( 2 + 1 ) x = 3 x \angle BCA=\angle BCD+\angle ACD=2x+x=(2+1)x=3x . Considering circle C 1 C_1 where A B = A C AB=AC , we have A B C = B C A = 3 x \angle ABC=\angle BCA=3x . To solve for x x :

C B D + B C D + B D C = π \angle CBD+\angle BCD+\angle BDC=\pi

3 x + 2 x + 2 x = π 3x+2x+2x=\pi

( 3 + 4 ) x = π (3+4)x=\pi

7 x = π 7x=\pi

x = π 7 x=\frac{\pi}{7}

Alternatively,

A B C + A C B + B A C = π \angle ABC+\angle ACB+\angle BAC=\pi

3 x + 3 x + x = π 3x+3x+x=\pi

( 6 + 1 ) x = π (6+1)x=\pi

7 x = π 7x=\pi

x = π 7 x=\frac{\pi}{7}

Yet another method is:

A D C = C B D + B C D = 3 x + 2 x = ( 3 + 2 ) x = 5 x \angle ADC=\angle CBD+\angle BCD=3x+2x=(3+2)x=5x

A D C + A C D + C A D = π \angle ADC+\angle ACD+\angle CAD=\pi

5 x + x + x = π 5x+x+x=\pi

( 5 + 2 ) x = π (5+2)x=\pi

7 x = π 7x=\pi

x = π 7 x=\frac{\pi}{7}

Therefore, X Y = 2 π 2 r C 1 π 7 2 r C 1 = 2 1 7 = 2 × 7 = 14 \frac{X}{Y}=\frac{2\pi 2r{C_1}}{\frac{\pi}{7} 2r_{C_1}}=\frac{2}{\frac{1}{7}}=2 \times 7=\boxed{14}

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