2004 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 22
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Problem
A triangle with sides of 5, 12, and 13 has both an inscribed and a circumscribed circle. What is the distance between the centers of those circles?
Solution
This is obviously a right triangle. Pick a coordinate system so that the right angle is at 
and the other two vertices are at 
and 
.
As this is a right triangle, the center of the circumcircle is in the middle of the hypotenuse, at 
.
The radius 
of the inscribed circle can be computed using the well-known identity 
, where 
is the area of the triangle and 
its perimeter. In our case, 
and 
, thus 
. As the inscribed circle touches both legs, its center must be at 
.
The distance of these two points is then 
.
See also
| 2004 AMC 10B (Problems • Resources) | ||
| Preceded by Problem 21 | Followed by Problem 23 | |
| 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 | ||
