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2004 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 23

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Problem

Circles A, B, and C are externally tangent to each other and internally tangent to circle D. Circles B and C are congruent. Circle A has radius 1 and passes through the center of D. What is the radius of circle B?

Image:AMC10_2004A_23.png

\mathrm{(A) \ } \frac{2}{3} \qquad \mathrm{(B) \ } \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \qquad \mathrm{(C) \ } \frac{7}{8} \qquad \mathrm{(D) \...

Solution

Let O be the center of D, and E be the intersection point of B,C. Since the radius of D is the diameter of A, the radius of D is 2. Let the radius of B,C be r. If we connect the centers of the circles A, B, C (we will denote these as A_1, B_1, C_1, we get an isosceles triangle with lengths 1 + r, r. Also, B_1E is the difference between the radius of D, 2, and r, so right \triangle OB_1E has legs r, x and hypotenuse 2-r. Solving for x, we get x^2 = (2-r)^2 - r^2 \Longrightarow x = \sqrt{4-4r}.

Also, right triangle A_1B_1E has legs r, 1+x, and hypotenuse 1+r. Solving,

\begin{eqnarray*}r^2 + (1+\sqrt{4-4r})^2 &=& (1+r)^2\\1+4-4r+2\sqrt{4-4r}&=& 2r + 1\\1-r &=& \left(\f...

So the answer is \mathrm{(D)}.

See also

2004 AMC 10A (ProblemsResources)
Preceded by
Problem 22
Followed by
Problem 24
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
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