AMC 10 Step by Step

2021 AMC Fall 10A Problem 19

P16-20~7 minPrint

A disk of radius 11 rolls all the way around the inside of a square of side length s>4s>4 and sweeps out a region of area AA . A second disk of radius 11 rolls all the way around the outside of the same square and sweeps out a region of area 2A2A . The value of ss can be written as a+bπca+\frac{b\pi}{c} , where a,ba,b , and cc are positive integers and bb and cc are relatively prime. What is a+b+ca+b+c ?

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Key insight

Inside, the disk sweeps a band 2 wide but misses a piece of 1 - pi/4 at each corner. Outside, it sweeps four strips and four quarter circles.

Solution

A rolling disk of radius 11 covers every point within 11 of the path of its center. So for each disk, first find where the center goes, then see what it covers.

Inside the square.

1. The center stays 11 away from each wall, so it moves around a smaller square of side s−2s - 2.
2. The disk covers a band along the walls, 22 wide. If it filled that band completely, the area would be the big square minus the untouched middle square of side s−4s - 4:
s2−(s−4)2=s2−(s2−8s+16)=8s−16.s^2 - (s - 4)^2 = s^2 - (s^2 - 8s + 16) = 8s - 16.
3. But the disk is round, so it cannot reach into the corners. At a corner, the closest the center gets is 11 from each wall. The 1×11 \times 1 corner square is then covered only by a quarter circle of radius 11. The missed piece at each corner has area 1−π41 - \frac{\pi}{4}.
4. So
A=8s−16−4(1−π4)=8s−16−4+π=8s−20+π.A = 8s - 16 - 4\left(1 - \frac{\pi}{4}\right) = 8s - 16 - 4 + \pi = 8s - 20 + \pi.

Outside the square.

  1. The disk covers everything within 22 of the square, outside it. Along each side that is a s×2s \times 2 strip: 4×2s=8s4 \times 2s = 8s.
  2. At each corner the disk swings around the corner point, covering a quarter circle of radius 22, area 14π×22=π\frac14 \pi \times 2^2 = \pi. Four corners give 4π4\pi.
  3. Outside area: 8s+4π8s + 4\pi.

Set up the equation.

8. The outside area is 2A2A:
8s+4π=2(8s−20+π)=16s−40+2π.8s + 4\pi = 2(8s - 20 + \pi) = 16s - 40 + 2\pi.
9. Move terms: 40+4π−2π=16s−8s40 + 4\pi - 2\pi = 16s - 8s, so 8s=40+2π8s = 40 + 2\pi and
s=5+2π8=5+π4.s = 5 + \frac{2\pi}{8} = 5 + \frac{\pi}{4}.
10. So a=5a = 5, b=1b = 1, c=4c = 4, and a+b+c=10a + b + c = 10.

The answer is (A) 10\boxed{\textbf{(A)}\ 10}.

Why this works

To find what a rolling disk sweeps, trace its center and then "thicken" that path by the radius. Around an outside corner the thickened path bulges into a quarter circle. In an inside corner, the round disk cannot fill the corner and leaves a small gap: a square minus a quarter circle. Breaking both regions into rectangles and quarter circles gives two simple expressions in ss.

Concise solution

A shorter write-up, the way contest solutions are usually written. It may take a different route from the solution above.

Inside. The disk's center stays 11 unit from the walls, tracing a square of side s−2s - 2. The disk covers every point within 11 of that path: the band of width 22 along the walls, minus what it cannot reach in the corners. Near a corner, the nearest center position is the corner of the center-path, 11 unit from each wall; the unit square in the corner is covered only by the quarter disk of radius 11 around that point. So each corner has an unreachable sliver of area 1−π41 - \tfrac{\pi}{4}, and
A=s2−(s−4)2−4(1−π4)=8s−16−4+π=8s−20+π.A = s^2 - (s - 4)^2 - 4\left(1 - \tfrac{\pi}{4}\right) = 8s - 16 - 4 + \pi = 8s - 20 + \pi.

Outside. Rolling around the outside, the disk covers every point within 22 of the square but outside it: four s×2s \times 2 rectangles along the sides plus four quarter disks of radius 22 at the corners (the disk pivots around each corner). Area:
4⋅2s+4⋅14π⋅22=8s+4π.4 \cdot 2s + 4 \cdot \tfrac{1}{4}\pi \cdot 2^2 = 8s + 4\pi.

Equation. The outside area is 2A2A:
8s+4π=2(8s−20+π)=16s−40+2π⟹8s=40+2π⟹s=5+π4.8s + 4\pi = 2(8s - 20 + \pi) = 16s - 40 + 2\pi \quad\Longrightarrow\quad 8s = 40 + 2\pi \quad\Longrightarrow\quad s = 5 + \frac{\pi}{4}.

So a=5a = 5, b=1b = 1, c=4c = 4 and a+b+c=10a + b + c = 10.

The answer is (A) 10\boxed{\textbf{(A)}\ 10}.

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Problem © Mathematical Association of America (MAA), American Mathematics Competitions. Reproduced for non-commercial educational use. Solution and commentary are original to this site.