Circular arcs in a pentagon

Geometry Level 3

An pentagon of side length 2 2 is shown below. Five circular arcs are constructed on each side such that each arc passes through the two vertices of the side and such that it is tangent to the two other sides intersecting with that side. The arcs generate the shape of a flower with five petals with an overlap between them. Find the area of one petal excluding the overlap (the requested area is shaded in blue).


The answer is 0.942868444.

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1 solution

David Vreken
Jun 1, 2019

Let O O be the center point, C C be the center of the top right circular arc, and A A , B B , D D , and E E be labelled as follows:

By symmetry, A O B = 360 ° 5 = 72 ° \angle AOB = \frac{360°}{5} = 72° , and since a central angle is twice the angle that subtends the same arc, A C B = 2 72 ° = 144 ° \angle ACB = 2 \cdot 72° = 144° , which means B C D = 72 ° \angle BCD = 72° and B C O = 108 ° \angle BCO = 108° . Using trigonometry on right triangle B C D \triangle BCD and using the given information that A B = 2 AB = 2 , B C = 1 sin 72 ° BC = \frac{1}{\sin 72°} , and since B C BC is a radius, B C = C E = C O = 1 sin 72 ° BC = CE = CO = \frac{1}{\sin 72°} .

Also by symmetry, C O E = 360 ° 5 = 72 ° \angle COE = \frac{360°}{5} = 72° , and since C O E \triangle COE is an isosceles triangle, E C O = 36 ° \angle ECO = 36° .

The area of region between the line B O BO and arc B O BO is the difference between the area of the sector B C O BCO and the triangle B C O \triangle BCO , which is A B O = ( 108 ° 360 ° π 1 2 sin 108 ° ) ( 1 sin 72 ° ) 2 A_{BO} = (\frac{108°}{360°}\pi - \frac{1}{2} \sin 108°)(\frac{1}{\sin 72°})^2 , and similarly, A E O = ( 36 ° 360 ° π 1 2 sin 36 ° ) ( 1 sin 72 ° ) 2 A_{EO} = (\frac{36°}{360°}\pi - \frac{1}{2} \sin 36°)(\frac{1}{\sin 72°})^2 .

The desired area is then A P = 2 A B O 4 A E O = 2 ( 108 ° 360 ° π 1 2 sin 108 ° ) ( 1 sin 72 ° ) 2 4 ( 36 ° 360 ° π 1 2 sin 36 ° ) ( 1 sin 72 ° ) 2 A_P = 2A_{BO} - 4A_{EO} = 2(\frac{108°}{360°}\pi - \frac{1}{2} \sin 108°)(\frac{1}{\sin 72°})^2 - 4(\frac{36°}{360°}\pi - \frac{1}{2} \sin 36°)(\frac{1}{\sin 72°})^2 which simplifies to A P = ( 2 sin 36 ° sin 108 ° + 1 5 π ) ( 1 sin 72 ° ) 2 A_P = (2 \sin 36° - \sin 108° + \frac{1}{5}\pi)(\frac{1}{\sin 72°})^2 . Substituting sin 36 ° = 10 2 5 4 \sin 36° = \frac{\sqrt{10 - 2\sqrt{5}}}{4} and sin 72 ° = sin 108 ° = 10 + 2 5 4 \sin 72° = \sin 108° = \frac{\sqrt{10 + 2\sqrt{5}}}{4} further simplifies it to A P = ( 10 2 5 2 10 + 2 5 4 + 1 5 π ) 16 10 + 2 5 0.942868444 A_P = (\frac{\sqrt{10 - 2\sqrt{5}}}{2} - \frac{\sqrt{10 + 2\sqrt{5}}}{4} + \frac{1}{5}\pi) \cdot \frac{16}{10 + 2\sqrt{5}} \approx \boxed{0.942868444} .

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