Sangaku Problem

Geometry Level 1

Five identical circles are arranged inside a unit square as shown in the above figure. If the radius of each of this circles is given by r = a b c r = \dfrac{\sqrt{a} - b}{c} , where a a , b b , and c c are integers with a a being square-free, then find a + b + c a + b + c .


The answer is 8.

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4 solutions

Chew-Seong Cheong
Oct 14, 2020

Let the radius of the circle be r r and the smallest angle of the four congruent right triangle be θ \theta . We note that 2 r + 4 r cos θ = 1 ( 1 ) 2r + 4r \cos \theta = 1 \cdots (1) (the blue line) and sin θ + 2 r = cos θ ( 2 ) \sin \theta + 2r = \cos \theta \cdots (2) (the short leg + 2 r = + 2r = the long leg of the right triangle.

From ( 2 ) : 2 r = cos θ sin θ (2): 2r = \cos \theta - \sin \theta . Substitutes in ( 1 ) (1) :

( cos θ sin θ ) ( 1 + 2 cos θ ) = 1 cos θ sin θ + 2 cos 2 θ 2 sin θ cos θ = 1 cos θ sin θ = 2 sin θ cos θ 2 cos 2 θ + 1 cos θ sin θ = sin 2 θ cos 2 θ cos ( θ + 4 5 ) = sin ( 2 θ 4 5 ) = cos ( 13 5 2 θ ) θ + 4 5 = 13 5 2 θ 3 θ = 9 0 θ = 3 0 \begin{aligned} (\cos \theta - \sin \theta) (1+2\cos \theta) & = 1 \\ \cos \theta - \sin \theta + 2 \cos^2 \theta - 2\sin \theta \cos \theta & = 1 \\ \cos \theta - \sin \theta & = 2\sin \theta \cos \theta - 2\cos^2 \theta + 1 \\ \cos \theta - \sin \theta & = \sin 2 \theta - \cos 2 \theta \\ \cos (\theta + 45^\circ) & = \sin (2\theta - 45^\circ) = \cos (135^\circ - 2\theta) \\ \theta + 45^\circ & = 135^\circ - 2\theta \\ 3 \theta & = 90^\circ \\ \implies \theta & = 30^\circ \end{aligned}

From ( 2 ) : 2 r = 3 2 1 2 r = 3 1 4 (2): 2r = \dfrac {\sqrt 3}2 - \dfrac 12 \implies r = \dfrac {\sqrt 3 -1}4 . Therefore a + b + c = 3 + 1 + 4 = 8 a+b+c = 3+1+4 = \boxed 8 .

Chris Lewis
Oct 14, 2020

Without the circles, this is a classic proof of Pythagoras' theorem; in this vein, let the shorter sides of the right-angled triangles be u > v u>v .

The side of the smaller central square is then u v u-v ; but, from the diagram, this is also 2 r 2r .

The inradius of a right-angled triangle with sides x , y , z x,y,z is r = x + y z 2 r=\frac{x+y-z}{2} ; so in this case r = u + v 1 2 r=\frac{u+v-1}{2} . Hence 2 r = u v = u + v 1 2r=u-v=u+v-1

so that v = 1 2 v=\frac12 .

Also, u 2 + v 2 = 1 u^2+v^2=1 , so u = 1 2 3 u=\frac12 \sqrt3 .

Finally, r = 1 4 ( 3 1 ) r=\frac14 \left(\sqrt3-1\right) giving the answer 8 \boxed8 .

Chase Marangu
Jan 11, 2021

Code I made which works on https://www.khanacademy.org/computer-programming/new/pjs I know, it's poorly commented, I am just throwing it here SHOULD NOTE I also have a ton of scratch-paper I used to work this out too, as well as wolframalpha for some of the trigonometric equations

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// Code by chase marangu 2020 Monday January 11th
// works on https://www.khanacademy.org/computer-programming/new/pjs
// th is an angle of the right triangle -change it see what happen!
// h is how zoomed in your view is. Also it is the hypotenouse of the right triangle
var th = 25;
var h = 200;

// center x and y of the circle inscribed in the first right triangle
var cy = cos(th)/(1+
     (1/(tan(th/2)) ) );
var cx = (cos(th)-cy);

// orient the view
scale(1, -1);
translate(0, -height);
translate(20, 200);

// coloring options
strokeWeight(2);
stroke(255, 0, 0);

// draw the four right triangles and their incircles
pushMatrix();
for (var i=0; i<4; ++i) {
    // draw the triangle
    line(0, 0, cos(th)*h, 0);
    line(0, 0, cos(th)*h, sin(th)*h);
    line(cos(th)*h, 0, cos(th)*h, sin(th)*h);
    // draw the circle inscribed in it
    ellipse(cx*h, cy*h, abs(cy)*2*h, abs(cy)*2*h);
    // translate and rotate in the for-loop to make the
    // four-right-triangles-in-a-square arrangement
    translate(cos(th)*h, sin(th)*h);
    rotate(-360/4);
}
popMatrix();

// draw the circle inscribed in the square
ellipse(
    ( cos(th)/2+sin(th)/2 )*h,
    -(cos(th)/2-sin(th)/2)*h,
    abs(cos(th)-sin(th))*h,
    abs(cos(th)-sin(th))*h);

Hana Wehbi
Oct 14, 2020

There is a solution in this mathematical link

And here is an interesting generalisation.

Thanos Petropoulos - 8 months ago

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I agree. Thank you for sharing this valuable article.

Hana Wehbi - 8 months ago

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