A quadrilateral is inscribed in a circle with diameter . Sides and each have the same length, .
If the length of is (with coprime, positive integers), what is the value of ?
Note : The diagram is not drawn to scale.
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.
Generally speaking, if a chord of a circle spans angle 2 θ , then its length is 2 r sin θ = d sin θ .
Suppose that A B = B C = x each span an angle 2 α , and C D = y spans an angle 2 β , and 2 ( 2 α ) + 2 β = 1 8 0 ∘ .
Then y = d sin β , x = d sin α , and β = 9 0 ∘ − 2 α ; therefore y = d sin ( 9 0 ∘ − 2 α ) = d cos 2 α = d ( 1 − 2 sin 2 α ) = d ( 1 − 2 ⋅ ( d x ) 2 ) = d d 2 − 2 x 2 .
In this case, d = 1 3 and x = 5 , so that y = 1 1 3 2 − 2 ⋅ 5 2 3 = 1 3 1 1 9 ; the answer to the problem is 1 1 9 + 1 3 = 1 3 2 .