Involute of a circle by a sheep

Calculus Level 5

A sheep is tied in a silo of radius r r , by a rope long enough to reach the opposite end of the silo(see figure above). The total area available for the sheep to graze can be written as,

p π 3 r 2 q , \large\frac{p\pi^{3}r^{2}}{q},

where p p and q q are co-prime positive integers. What is the value of p + q p+q ?

Note: The involute (of a circle), is the locus of points traced out by a taut string.
I found this problem in a book, and i thought i would share it.


The answer is 11.

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2 solutions

Beakal Tiliksew
Jun 11, 2014

It can be shown that the involute of a circle can be parametrized in θ \theta as.

x = r ( cos θ + θ sin θ ) x=r(\cos \theta+\theta\sin\theta) y = r ( sin θ θ cos θ ) y=r(\sin \theta-\theta\cos\theta)

The equation of the circle

x c = r c o s θ x_{c}=rcos \theta y c = r s i n θ y_{c}=rsin \theta

The area from 0 to π \pi

A 1 = π 0 ( y y c ) d x = π 0 ( r ( sin θ θ cos θ ) r s i n θ ) r ( s i n θ + θ c o s θ ) d θ = r 2 0 π θ c o s θ s i n θ d θ + r 2 0 π θ 2 c o s 2 θ d θ = π r 2 4 + π r 2 4 + 1 6 π 3 = 1 6 π 3 r 2 { A }_{ 1 }=\int _{ \pi }^{ 0 }{ (y-{ y }_{ c } } )dx=\int _{ \pi }^{ 0 }{ (r(\sin \theta -\theta \cos \theta )-rsin\theta } )r(sin\theta +\theta cos\theta )d\theta \\ \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad ={ r }^{ 2 }\int _{ 0 }^{ \pi }{ \theta cos\theta sin\theta d\theta } +{ r }^{ 2 }\int _{ 0 }^{ \pi }{ { \theta }^{ 2 }{ cos }^{ 2 }\theta } d\theta \quad \\ \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad =-\frac { \pi { r }^{ 2 } }{ 4 } +\frac { \pi { r }^{ 2 } }{ 4 } +\frac { 1 }{ 6 } { \pi }^{ 3 }\\ \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad =\quad \frac { 1 }{ 6 } { \pi }^{ 3 }{r}^{2} ,

If we continue on the blue curve(see figure), after going an angle of π \pi , it will move around a semicircle of radius r θ r\theta . thus

A 2 = π ( r π ) 2 2 = π 3 r 2 2 { A }_{ 2 }=\frac { \pi { (r\pi ) }^{ 2 } }{ 2 } =\frac { { \pi }^{ 3 }{ r }^{ 2 } }{ 2 }

By symmetry, Area covered from 0 0 to π \pi is equal to area covered from π \pi to 2 π 2\pi . Thus A 1 A_{1} = A 3 A_{3} .

A t o t = 2 A 1 + A 2 = π 3 r 2 3 + π 3 r 2 2 = 5 π 3 r 2 6 { A }_{ tot }=\quad \quad { 2A }_{ 1 }+{ A }_{ 2 }\\ \quad \quad =\frac { { \pi }^{ 3 }{ r }^{ 2 } }{ 3 } +\frac { { \pi }^{ 3 }{ r }^{ 2 } }{ 2 } \\ \quad \quad =\quad \quad \frac { 5{ \pi }^{ 3 }{ r }^{ 2 } }{ 6 }

As wanted,

I did exactly in the same way.

jatin yadav - 7 years ago

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Would u guys want to join this

Beakal Tiliksew - 7 years ago

How did d x dx become r ( s i n θ + θ c o s θ ) d θ r(sin\theta + \theta cos\theta)d\theta ?

I got d x = r θ c o s θ d θ dx = r\theta cos\theta d\theta after getting the derivative of x = r ( c o s θ + θ s i n θ ) x=r(cos\theta + \theta sin\theta) .

Esrael Santillan - 6 years, 10 months ago

I have a similar approach but computed the area under the involute from 0 to Pi in polar coordinates and subtracted half the area of the circle, multiplied by 2 and added the area of semicircle described by the rope of length Pi*r in the third and fourth quadrant. Made a stupid mistake of adding 5 and 6 to 13

Ishan Shah - 7 years ago
Himanshu Arora
Jun 16, 2014

Half the area of the bigger circle is obviously accessible to the sheep.

Let's calculate the silo side. sheep sheep

When the rope touches the Silo till the angle θ \theta as shown, the area element swept by sheep between θ \theta and d θ d\theta would be 1 2 ( π θ ) 2 × r 2 d θ \frac{1}{2}(\pi - \theta)^{2}\times r^{2} d\theta . Integrate this over t h e t a theta from 0 0 to π \pi and multiply by twice to get 1 3 π 3 r 2 \frac{1}{3} \pi^{3} r^{2} . Add them to get 5 6 π 3 r 2 \frac{5}{6} \pi^{3} r^{2} .

Hence the answer 11 \boxed{11}

How did you get 1 2 ( π θ ) 2 r 2 d θ \frac{1}{2}(\pi - \theta)^{2}r^{2}d\theta ?

Esrael Santillan - 6 years, 10 months ago

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