2022 AMC 10A Problem 15
Quadrilateral with side lengths is inscribed in a circle. The area interior to the circle but exterior to the quadrilateral can be written in the form where and are positive integers such that and have no common prime factor. What is
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Key insight
7, 24, 25 and 15, 20, 25 are both right-triangle side sets with long side 25. So the diagonal AC is 25 and is a diameter of the circle.
Solution
1. Spot the right triangles. Draw diagonal , which splits the quadrilateral into triangle (sides , ) and triangle (sides , ). Notice
So if the angles at and are right angles, both triangles have long side .
2. Why the angles really are right angles. In a quadrilateral inside a circle, opposite angles add to , so .
- If were more than , triangle would be "opened wider" than a right triangle, so would be longer than . But then would be less than , making shorter than . Both cannot happen.
- The same clash happens if is less than .
So both angles are exactly and .
3. The circle. A right angle whose corner is on a circle stands on a diameter. So is a diameter, the radius is , and the circle's area is
4. The quadrilateral. It is two right triangles:
5. The region outside the quadrilateral. Write so both parts have the same bottom:
6. Read off the answer. and share no prime factor, so , , , and .
The answer is .
Why this works
When the sides of a quadrilateral fit two Pythagorean triples with the same long side, suspect that this long side is a diagonal with right angles on both sides of it. A right angle drawn inside a circle always stands on a diameter, so the circle's size follows at once, and the quadrilateral is just two right triangles.
Concise solution
A shorter write-up, the way contest solutions are usually written. It may take a different route from the solution above.
Draw diagonal . The sides and are the legs of the Pythagorean triples -- and --, which share the hypotenuse . This suggests with right angles at and , and that is consistent with the cyclic condition, since opposite angles and would sum to . It is in fact forced: and are supplementary, so , and computing in both triangles gives , so .
Right angles at and mean is a diameter, so the radius is and the circle's area is .
The quadrilateral is two right triangles: and , total .
The region inside the circle but outside the quadrilateral has area
Since , .
The answer is .
Review in the AoPS books
- Introduction to Geometry, Chapter 11: Circles
- Introduction to Geometry, Chapter 4: Perimeter and Area (§4.2)
- Introduction to Geometry, Chapter 8: Quadrilaterals
- Introduction to Geometry, Chapter 19: Problem Solving Strategies in Geometry (§19.1)
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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.