1983 AIME Problem 15
Attempt Problem 15 of the 1983 AIME below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 1983 AIME solutions, or check the answer key.
All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
15.
The adjoining figure shows two intersecting chords in a circle, with on minor arc Suppose that the radius of the circle is that and that is bisected by Suppose further that is the only chord starting at which is bisected by It follows that the sine of the minor arc is a rational number. If this fraction is expressed as a fraction in lowest terms, what is the product
Answer: 175
Small Hint:
The midpoints of all chords from lie on the circle with diameter joining to the center
Big Hint:
Uniqueness makes tangent to that midpoint circle at the midpoint of
Solution:
Let be the midpoint of Put and let the circle’s center be Then The midpoints of all chords starting at form the circle with center and radius Because is the only such chord bisected by the line that line is tangent to the midpoint circle at
Hence a unit direction vector for may be taken as perpendicular to Write and where Then and intersecting chords give Substituting the line into the original circle also gives Therefore so Its roots are and but Thus and
Choose and for the endpoint on minor arc Then The sine of the central angle subtending minor arc is the absolute determinant of these radius vectors divided by namely Hence
Problem 15 in Other Years
1984 AIME · 1985 AIME · 1986 AIME · 1987 AIME · 1988 AIME · 1989 AIME · 1990 AIME · 1991 AIME · 1992 AIME · 1993 AIME · 1994 AIME · 1995 AIME · 1996 AIME · 1997 AIME · 1998 AIME · 1999 AIME · 2000 AIME I · 2000 AIME II · 2001 AIME I · 2001 AIME II · 2002 AIME I · 2002 AIME II · 2003 AIME I · 2003 AIME II · 2004 AIME I · 2004 AIME II · 2005 AIME I · 2005 AIME II · 2006 AIME I · 2006 AIME II · 2007 AIME I · 2007 AIME II · 2008 AIME I · 2008 AIME II · 2009 AIME I · 2009 AIME II · 2010 AIME I · 2010 AIME II · 2011 AIME I · 2011 AIME II · 2012 AIME I · 2012 AIME II · 2013 AIME I · 2013 AIME II · 2014 AIME I · 2014 AIME II · 2015 AIME I · 2015 AIME II · 2016 AIME I · 2016 AIME II · 2017 AIME I · 2017 AIME II · 2018 AIME I · 2018 AIME II · 2019 AIME I · 2019 AIME II · 2020 AIME I · 2020 AIME II · 2021 AIME I · 2021 AIME II · 2022 AIME I · 2022 AIME II · 2023 AIME I · 2023 AIME II · 2024 AIME I · 2024 AIME II · 2025 AIME I · 2025 AIME II · 2026 AIME I · 2026 AIME II