1997 AIME Problems/Problem 4
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Problem
Circles of radii 
and 
are mutually externally tangent, where 
and 
are relatively prime positive integers. Find 
Solution
If (in the diagram above) we draw the line going through the centers of the circles with radii 
and 
, that line is the perpendicular bisector of the segment connecting the centers of the two circles with radii 
. Then we form two right triangles, of lengths 
and 
, wher 
is the distance between the center of the circle in question and the segment connecting the centers of the two circles of radii . By the Pythagorean Theorem, we now have two equations with two unknowns:
So 
.
See also
| 1997 AIME (Problems • Resources) | ||
| Preceded by Problem 3 | Followed by Problem 5 | |
| 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 | ||
