The maximum distance

Geometry Level 5

On the coordinate plane, P P and Q Q are two points on circle x 2 + ( y 1 ) 2 = 3 x^2+(y-1)^2=3 and ellipse x 2 4 + y 2 = 1 \dfrac{x^2}{4}+y^2=1 respectively.

Then P Q |PQ| has the maximum value A A . Submit 10000 A \lfloor 10000A \rfloor .


The answer is 40414.

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1 solution

Patrick Corn
Dec 30, 2019

Suppose we know Q . Q. Then the point P P on the circle that maximizes P Q PQ is a point such that P Q \overline{PQ} is normal to the circle at P . P. This means that it goes through the center of the circle, which is ( 0 , 1 ) . (0,1).

The same reasoning holds true if we fix P P ; the point Q Q on the ellipse that maximizes P Q PQ is a point such that P Q \overline{PQ} is normal to the ellipse at Q . Q. If Q = ( x , y ) , Q=(x,y), the slope of the tangent line to the ellipse at Q Q is x / 4 y -x/4y by implicit differentiation, so the line P Q \overline{PQ} must have slope 4 y / x . 4y/x.

Putting these together, we get 4 y x = y 1 x 0 , \frac{4y}x = \frac{y-1}{x-0}, so either x = 0 x=0 or y = 1 3 . y = -\frac13. If x = 0 , x=0, the maximum distance P Q PQ is 2 + 3 . 2+\sqrt{3}. We will see that we can do better than this in the other case.

If y = 1 3 y=-\frac13 then x = ± 4 2 3 x = \pm \frac{4\sqrt{2}}3 ; wlog take x = 4 2 3 . x=\frac{4\sqrt{2}}3. So Q = ( 4 2 3 , 1 3 ) . Q = \left(\frac{4\sqrt{2}}3, -\frac13\right).

Then we know the slope of P Q \overline{PQ} and its y y -intercept, so the line P Q \overline{PQ} is given by the equation y = 1 2 x + 1. y = -\frac1{\sqrt{2}} x + 1. This intersects the circle at the points ( 2 , 0 ) (\sqrt{2}, 0) and ( 2 , 2 ) . (-\sqrt{2}, 2). The latter clearly gives a larger distance than the former, so P = ( 2 , 2 ) . P = (-\sqrt{2},2). Computing the distance P Q PQ gives A = 7 3 , A = \frac7{\sqrt{3}}, so that 10000 A = 40414 . \lfloor 10000A \rfloor = \fbox{40414}.

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