No way out

Calculus Level 5

Let S S be the region in the first quadrant which is

(i) to the right of the parabola y = x 2 y = x^{2} and

(ii) to the left of the parabola y = ( x 2 ) 2 y = (x - 2)^{2} .

Let r r be the radius of the largest circle which can be inscribed in S S . Find 10000 r \lfloor 10000*r \rfloor .


The answer is 3347.

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2 solutions

Discussions for this problem are now closed

The parabolas intersect at ( 1 , 1 ) (1,1) , so the coordinates of the inscribed circle will be ( 1 , r ) (1,r) .

Now look at the point ( a , a 2 ) (a,a^{2}) on the curve y = x 2 y = x^{2} such that the normal to the curve at this point passes through ( 1 , r ) (1,r) . (By symmetry we only need to look at the "relationship" between one of the parabolas and the inscribed circle.) Since the slope of the curve at this point is 2 a 2a , the equation of the normal will be

y a 2 = ( 1 2 a ) ( x a ) y - a^{2} = (-\frac{1}{2a})(x - a) ,

and since this will pass through ( 1 , r ) (1,r) we have that

r a 2 = ( 1 2 a ) ( 1 a ) r - a^{2} = (-\frac{1}{2a})(1 - a) , (i).

Also, we know that the distance between ( a , a 2 ) (a,a^{2}) and ( 1 , r ) (1,r) is r r , and so

( 1 a ) 2 + ( r a 2 ) 2 = r 2 (1 - a)^{2} + (r - a^{2})^{2} = r^{2} , (ii).

Combining equations (i) and (ii) we have that

( 1 a ) 2 + ( 1 4 a 2 ) ( 1 a ) 2 = ( a 2 ( 1 2 a ) ( 1 a ) ) 2 (1 - a)^{2} + (-\frac{1}{4a^{2}})(1 - a)^{2} = (a^{2} - (\frac{1}{2a})(1 - a))^{2}

( 1 a ) 2 = a 4 a + a 2 a 4 + a 1 = 0 \Longrightarrow (1 - a)^{2} = a^{4} - a + a^{2} \Longrightarrow a^{4} + a - 1 = 0 ,

which by numerical methods has the positive real solution a = 0.724491959... a = 0.724491959... , which, when plugged into equation (i), yields the value r = 0.334751... r = 0.334751... .

Thus 10000 r = 3347 \lfloor 10000*r \rfloor = \boxed{3347} .

Imgur Imgur

Great problem Brian! Did basically the same thing except two minor time savers:

  1. AT = AB . . . Tangents from an external point

  2. Tangent to y = x 2 y = x^2 at T ( a , a 2 ) T(a, a^2) intersects the x axis at half the X coordinate i.e. A ( a 2 , 0 ) A(\frac{a}{2},0) .

AT = AB and C x = 1 C_x = 1

( a a 2 ) 2 + ( a 2 ) 2 = ( 1 a 2 ) 2 (a-\frac{a}{2})^2+(a^2)^2 = (1-\frac{a}{2})^2

a 2 4 + a 4 = 1 a + a 2 4 \frac{a^2}{4}+a^4 = 1-a+\frac{a^2}{4}

a 4 + a = 1 a^4+a=1

Ujjwal Rane - 6 years, 4 months ago

Sir can you please explain why can't we do this way ??

A r e a o f r e g i o n S = 2 3 S o , f r o m t h i s w e g e t a n i n e q u a l i t y a s π r 2 2 3 r 0.46065 Area\quad of\quad region\quad S\quad =\quad \frac { 2 }{ 3 } \\ So,\quad from\quad this\quad we\quad get\quad an\quad inequality\quad as\\ \quad \pi { r }^{ 2 }\le \frac { 2 }{ 3 } \Longrightarrow r\le 0.46065

Vighnesh Raut - 6 years, 5 months ago

Yes, that is the area of S S , but the circle needs to be inscribed in S S , and the value I found of r = 0.334751... r = 0.334751... is less than 0.46065 0.46065 . The circle with the solution radius is simultaneously tangent to the two parabolas and the x x -axis.

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 5 months ago

Got it........Thanks for your kind reply sir

Vighnesh Raut - 6 years, 5 months ago

I use wolfram alpha. for finding root's of this Equation , But curious to know How to evaluate root's of this Equation ? , My Curiosity is also Increase More Because IIT JEE 2014 also asked an question on this Similar Equation (In it's own manner) :) @brian charlesworth

Deepanshu Gupta - 6 years, 5 months ago

I can't see a "nice" way of finding the roots, but we could just use Newton's Method to find them manually, (although we would still rely on a calculator). Starting with an initial guess of 0.75 0.75 I got the correct value for a a to 6 6 decimal places after just 3 3 iterations. I'm not sure if this would be an acceptable method for the IIT JEE but it's the only way I can think of.

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 5 months ago

That's Interesting ! And Sir what is Newton Method ? I really Hearing it first Time, Sorry to disturb you ! And Actually It doesn't needed in JEE to calculate root's , Actually They asked question about the Nature of root's of equation ( x^4+x =a ) and etc .

Deepanshu Gupta - 6 years, 5 months ago

@Deepanshu Gupta Newton's Method is an iterative process for finding successively better approximations for the real-valued roots of a function f ( x ) f(x) . The iterative formula for the ( n + 1 ) (n + 1) st approximation x n + 1 x_{n+1} is

x n + 1 = x n f ( x n ) f ( x n ) . x_{n+1} = x_{n} - \dfrac{f(x_{n})}{f'(x_{n})}.

You have to make an educated "guess" for x 1 x_{1} by drawing a rough graph and testing out a few values, after which you just keep plugging one approximation into the formula after the other other until you get a suitable degree of accuracy.

So with this problem we have f ( x ) = x 4 + x 1 f(x) = x^{4} + x - 1 , giving us f ( x ) = 4 x 3 + 1 f'(x) = 4x^{3} + 1 . Noting that f ( 0.5 ) = 0.4375 f(0.5) = -0.4375 and f ( 1 ) = 1 f(1) = 1 we make a first guess of x 1 = 0.75 x_{1} = 0.75 and plug this into the formula to find that

x 2 = 0.75 0.066406 2.6875 = 0.7252907 x_{2} = 0.75 - \dfrac{0.066406}{2.6875} = 0.7252907 .

Plugging in successive approximations in turn, we find that

x 3 = 0.7244927 , x 4 = 0.7244919 , x 5 = 0.7244919. x_{3} = 0.7244927, x_{4} = 0.7244919, x_{5} = 0.7244919.

So after just a few iterations we have a root that is accurate to 6 6 decimal places, namely 0.724492 0.724492 . (It really helps to make a good first guess. :)) An explanation of the formula is given here .

As for the JEE asking for the "nature" of the roots, I think that they are looking for a more general description, i.e., the number of real roots and whether these are positive or negative. For this you can use Descartes' Rule of Signs , which is helpful but far from definitive.

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 5 months ago

@Brian Charlesworth That is really Very Interesting ! Thanks For The Help Sir !

Deepanshu Gupta - 6 years, 5 months ago

@Deepanshu Gupta You're welcome. :)

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 5 months ago

Woah... The rating shot up like a rocket. By the way, there is a purely algebraic solution and thats how I solved it. But its tedious.

Julian Poon - 6 years, 5 months ago

These questions made by you makes me realise how important is wolfram alpha.

Ronak Agarwal - 6 years, 5 months ago

These problems inspire me to fit a circle between 2 random curves :p. Nice problem sir :)

Krishna Sharma - 6 years, 5 months ago

Thanks. I don't know how I got around to posting so many "fit the circle" questions, but once I think one up I'm always curious about what equation needs to be solved at the end of the process. I'll be interested to see what kind of "fit the circle" question you come up with. :)

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 5 months ago

@Brian Charlesworth You always come up with nice "Fit the circle" problems and I love them! Awesome!

Pranjal Jain - 6 years, 5 months ago

@Brian Charlesworth There is a formula for circumradius

R = 1 4 ( a b + c d ) ( a c + b d ) ( a d + b c ) ( s a ) ( s b ) ( s c ) ( s d ) R = \dfrac{1}{4} \sqrt{\dfrac{(ab+cd)(ac + bd)(ad + bc)}{(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)(s-d)}}

But this is bit nasty.

Oops..posted in wrong problem, I wanted to post in quadrilateral problem.

Krishna Sharma - 6 years, 5 months ago

@Krishna Sharma That's a useful formula; thanks for mentioning it. Although it is long, it has a nice symmetry to it so it's not too hard to remember. I tried it on the cyclic quadrilateral problem and got the expected value of R R . :)

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 5 months ago

Haha. Yes, well, when I think up these questions I always hope that there will be a "nice" solution, but I don't worry about it now if that's not the case. If at the end of the solution process a quick application of the WolframAlpha "tool" is needed then I'm fine with that. :)

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 5 months ago
Aaaaa Bbbbb
Jan 11, 2015

Assume a is radius of inscribed circle, it is easy to see that the centre of this circle on the line x=1: ( x 1 ) 2 + ( y a ) 2 = a 2 (x-1)^2+(y-a)^2=a^2 ( x 1 ) 2 = a 2 ( y a ) 2 (x-1)^2=a^2-(y-a)^2 y = ( a 2 ( x 1 ) 2 ) + a y=\sqrt(a^2-(x-1)^2)+a a 2 ( x 1 ) 2 + a < x 2 \sqrt{a^2-(x-1)^2}+a<x^2 a 2 ( x 1 ) 2 < x 2 a \sqrt{a^2-(x-1)^2}<x^2-a ( a 2 ( x 1 ) 2 ) < ( x 2 a ) 2 (a^2-(x-1)^2)<(x^2-a)^2 a 2 ( x 1 ) 2 < x 4 2 a x 2 + a 2 a^2-(x-1)^2<x^4-2ax^2+a^2 x 4 2 a x 2 + ( x 1 ) 2 > 0 x^4-2ax^2+(x-1)^2>0 a < ( x 4 + ( x 1 ) 2 ) / ( 2 x 2 ) a<(x^4+(x-1)^2)/(2x^2) = ( 1 / 2 ) ( x 2 + 1 2 / x + 1 / x 2 =(1/2)(x^2+1-2/x+1/x^2 f ( x ) = x 2 + 1 2 / x + 1 / x 2 f(x)=x^2+1-2/x+1/x^2 f = 2 x + 2 / x 2 2 / x 3 f'=2*x+2/x^2-2/x^3 f(x) changes its sign at the point has x-cord is: x = 0.725 ; f > 0 ; f m i n = 0 , 334751 , 10000 r = 3347 x=0.725; f'>0; f_{min}=0,334751, \lfloor 10000*r \rfloor = \boxed{3347}

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