Two circles of radius 5 are separated by 1 unit. The shaded area is almost a whole number, but is actually slightly less than a whole number.
If A is the actual area then the error ϵ = ⌈ A ⌉ − A .
It turns out ϵ 1 itself is very close to a whole number. Enter this whole number.
You might start with the inspiration for this problem.
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pi/2 instead of pi, but the end result is the same
I'll commit a venial sin and post a calculus solution to a geometry problem. Say R = 5 and D = 1 . The two circles are:
x 2 + y 2 = R 2 ( x − D ) 2 + y 2 = R 2 y 1 = R 2 − x 2 y 2 = R 2 − ( x − D ) 2
It is fairly easy to determine that the intersection between the two circles occurs at x = 2 D . Half of the shaded area is therefore equal to:
2 A = ∫ D / 2 R 2 ( y 2 − y 1 ) d x + ∫ R R + D 2 y 2 d x
This yields:
A ≈ 1 9 . 9 6 6 6 1 6 5 ϵ 1 ≈ 2 9 . 9 5 4 9
That is my method also, approximation makes me feel unsure about the answer...
It's a correct solution with a valid process, and for me, that is no mathematical sin. I tried for a while to reason out the geometric argument on paper, and I just couldn't get it to where I needed it to be. I finally threw the circle equations into Desmos graphing calculator, and the tool did enough low-level stuff for me that I could reason my way through the high-level stuff. Generally, I feel satisfied having discovered the correct answer, as long as my method was sound.
Below is a picture showing the centers of the circles and the place where the regions almost overlap. It is turned sideways from the original drawing above. The centers of the circles are A and B so A B = 1 and A D = 5
The error is the area of four copies a little almost-triangle C E D but with two curved sides. The area of this triangle can found by taking rectangle A B C D and subtracting triangle A E B and the two sectors C B E and D A E .
A B = 1 , A D = 5 so the area of rectangle A B C D is 5
E F is the leg of triangle A F E . 0 . 5 2 + E F 2 = 5 2 so E F = 2 3 1 1 . Area of triangle A E B = 4 3 ⋅ 1 1
The sectors have central angle sin − 1 ( 1 / 1 0 ) and so each has an area π ⋅ 5 2 ⋅ 3 6 0 ∘ sin − 1 ( 1 / 1 0 )
So the area of the one almost-triangle is
5 − 2 ⋅ π ⋅ 2 5 ⋅ 3 6 0 ∘ sin − 1 ( 1 / 1 0 ) − 4 3 ⋅ 1 1 ≈ 0 . 0 0 8 3 4 5 8 7 8 2
The error is four of these so ϵ = 0 . 0 3 3 3 8 3 5 1 2 8 and ϵ 1 = 2 9 . 9 5 4 9 0 6 3 6 which is very close to the whole number 3 0
Thanks for posting this. It let me revisit my work on the previous problem and realize I made the mistake of ( 5 − cos θ ) 2 = 2 5 − 2 cos θ + cos 2 θ which turns out multiplying the error by about 5 7 times @_@. Nice problem.
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Consider the first quadrants of the two circles. Let A and B be the centers of the two circles, therefore, A B = 1 , and A C = 5 and B D = 5 be their radius on the x -axis. Point P is where the two circles intersect and O be the mid-point of A B . By symmetry, O P is perpendicular to A B .
The shaded area [ P C D ] ( [ ⋅ ] denotes the area) is given by:
[ P C D ] ⟹ A ϵ ⟹ ϵ 1 = [ O P D ] − [ O P C ] = [ B P D ] + [ O P B ] − ( [ A P C ] − [ O P A ] ) = 2 5 2 ( π + θ ) + 2 5 2 sin θ cos θ − 2 5 2 ( π − θ ) + 2 5 2 sin θ cos θ = 2 5 ( θ + sin θ cos θ ) = 2 5 ( sin − 1 0 . 1 + 0 . 1 1 − 0 . 1 2 ) = 4 × 2 5 ( sin − 1 0 . 1 + 0 . 1 1 − 0 . 1 2 ) ≈ 1 9 . 9 6 7 = ⌈ A ⌉ − A ≈ 2 0 − 1 9 . 9 6 7 = 0 . 0 3 3 = 0 . 0 3 3 1 ≈ 3 0 Note that sin θ = 5 2 1 = 0 . 1