1979 AHSME Problems/Problem 28

Problem 28

$[asy] import cse5; pathpen=black; pointpen=black; dotfactor=3; pair A=(1,2),B=(2,0),C=(0,0); D(CR(A,1.5)); D(CR(B,1.5)); D(CR(C,1.5)); D(MP("$A$",A)); D(MP("$B$",B)); D(MP("$C$",C)); pair[] BB,CC; CC=IPs(CR(A,1.5),CR(B,1.5)); BB=IPs(CR(A,1.5),CR(C,1.5)); D(BB[0]--CC[1]); MP("$B'$",BB[0],NW);MP("$C'$",CC[1],NE); //Credit to TheMaskedMagician for the diagram[/asy]$

Circles with centers $A ,~ B$ , and $C$ each have radius $r$ , where $1 < r < 2$ . The distance between each pair of centers is $2$ . If $B'$ is the point of intersection of circle $A$ and circle $C$ which is outside circle $B$ , and if $C'$ is the point of intersection of circle $A$ and circle $B$ which is outside circle $C$ , then length $B'C'$ equals

$\textbf{(A) }3r-2\qquad \textbf{(B) }r^2\qquad \textbf{(C) }r+\sqrt{3(r-1)}\qquad\\ \textbf{(D) }1+\sqrt{3(r^2-1)}\qquad \textbf{(E) }\text{none of these}$

Solution

The circles can be described in the cartesian plane as being centered at $(-1,0),(1,0)$ and $(0,\sqrt{3})$ with radius $r$ by the equations

$x^2+(y-\sqrt{3})^2=r^2$

$(x+1)^2+y^2=r^2$

$(x-1)^2+y^2=r^2$ .

Solving the first 2 equations gives $x=1-\sqrt{3}\cdot y$ which when substituted back in gives $y=\frac{\sqrt{3}\pm \sqrt{r^2-1}}{2}$ .

The larger root $y=\frac{\sqrt{3}+\sqrt{r^2-1}}{2}$ is the point B' described in the question. This root corresponds to $x=-\frac{1+\sqrt{3(r^2-1)}}{2}$ .

By symmetry across the y-axis the length of the line segment $B'C'$ is $1+\sqrt{3(r^2-1)}$ which is $\boxed{D}$ .

1979 AHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 27	Followed by Problem 29
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1979 AHSME Problems/Problem 28

Problem 28

Solution

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