Inscribed circle sums.

Geometry Level 4

If the pattern of inscribed circles shown in the image above is repeated infinitely, and the side length of the equilateral triangle is 2, then what is the area of all the circles to the nearest hundredth?


The answer is 1.57.

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4 solutions

Discussions for this problem are now closed

Nathan Ramesh
Nov 30, 2014

Let the total area be A A . It's easy to see that A = 1 3 A + 1 3 π A=\dfrac{1}{3}A+\dfrac{1}{3}\pi Solving gives A = π 2 A=\dfrac{\pi}{2}

Nice! This is exactly what I did

Alex Wang - 6 years, 6 months ago

Damn! All the time I was taking sum of radius -_-

Krishna Sharma - 6 years, 6 months ago

Nathan your solution makes no sense. Where have you got thee formula from?

Curtis Clement - 6 years, 6 months ago

The 3 3 "secondary" corner triangles, (i.e., those tangent to the large red circle), are exact replicas of the larger triangle, scaled by a factor of 1 9 \frac{1}{9} . So if A A if the area of all the circles, then A 9 \frac{A}{9} is the area of all the circles in any one of the corner triangles.

Now the radius of the large red circle is r = ( 1 3 ) 3 r = (\frac{1}{3})\sqrt{3} , (i.e., 1 3 \frac{1}{3} the median length), so we end up with the equation

A = π r 2 + 3 ( A 9 ) = π 3 + A 3 A = \pi r^{2} + 3*(\frac{A}{9}) = \frac{\pi}{3} + \frac{A}{3}

( 2 3 ) A = π 3 A = π 2 \Longrightarrow (\frac{2}{3})A = \frac{\pi}{3} \Longrightarrow A = \frac{\pi}{2} .

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 6 months ago
Curtis Clement
Nov 30, 2014

The red circle is the incircle of the large triangle. If A represents the area of the triangle, S is half the perimeter and r is the radius then: A=rs, so r=A/s. This gives r= 1/ 3 \sqrt{3} , so it follows that area of circle = pi/3. The circles areas decrease by 1/9 each time, but the number of those circles increases by 3 each time. This gives us the infinite sum: Total area of circles = (1/3)pi(1+1/3 + 1/9 +1/27+...) = (1/3) (pi)/(1-1/3) = (1/3) (3pi/2) = pi/2 = 1.57 (2d.p).

Koh Hui Soon
Dec 4, 2014

The area of triangle is actually the sum of the areas of regular hexagons. A t = Σ A h A_t = Σ A_h

Since the ratio of hexagon to circle is always constant, the sum of the areas of circles can be calculated by taking the ratio of one regular hexagon to a circle and apply it to the triangle. A t : Σ A c = Σ A h : Σ A c = A h : A c A_t : Σ A_c = Σ A_h : Σ A_c = A_h : A_c

Here, area of triangle is: A t = 1 2 × 2 2 × sin 60 º = 3 A_t = \frac {1}{2} \times 2^2 \times \sin 60º = \sqrt{3}

Assume that the radius of one of these circle is r.

Area of circle: A c = π r 2 A_c = πr^2

Area of regular hexagon is treated as 12 similar right angled triangle with length r on one side which subtends an angle of 30º: A h = 12 × 1 2 r ( r tan 30 º ) A_h = 12 \times \frac {1}{2} r (r\tan 30º)

Hence, A h = 2 3 r 2 A_h = 2\sqrt{3}r^2

Returning to the original problem, A t : Σ A c = A h : A c A_t : Σ A_c = A_h : A_c

Hence, 3 : Σ A c = 2 3 r 2 : π r 2 \sqrt{3} : Σ A_c = 2\sqrt{3}r^2:πr^2

and

Σ A c = π 2 Σ A_c = \frac {π}{2}

Oussama Boussif
Nov 30, 2014

Let r 0 r_{0} ne the radius of the bigger inscribed circle which is: r 0 = a tan ( 30 ) 2 = 1 ( 3 ) r_{0}=\frac {a*\tan(30)}{2}=\frac{1}{\sqrt(3)} where a a is side length of the triangle wich is in This case 2. We now find the radius r 1 r_{1} of the next three circles in terms of r 0 r_{0} : Using the above formula: r 1 = a tan ( 30 ) 2 = a 2 ( 3 ) r_{1}=\frac {a^{'}*\tan(30)}{2}=\frac{a^{'}}{2\sqrt(3)} Where a a^{'} is the side length of the three triangles wich equals: a = 2 r 0 tan ( 30 ) = 2 r 0 ( 3 ) a^{'}=2r_{0}\tan(30)=\frac{2r_{0}}{\sqrt(3)} And subtituting the value of a a^{'} in the above equation we get: r 1 = r 0 3 r_{1}=\frac{r_{0}}{3} , so we Can easily conclude the following recurrence relation : r n + 1 = r n 3 r_{n+1}=\frac{r_{n}}{3} , wich also gives: r n = r 0 / 3 n r_{n}=r_{0}/3^{n} for each n>=0. Now we Can compute the area of circles: A n = π r n 2 = π r 0 2 3 2 n A_{n}=\pi*r_{n}^{2}=\frac{\pi*r_{0}^{2}}{3^{2n}} . Now observe That the number of triangles gets multiplied by 3 each time, so the total area Will be: A t = 0 A ( n ) 3 n = π 2 A_{t}=\sum_{0}^{\infty} A(n)3^{n}=\frac{\pi}{2}

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