Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 7 / 90 of 300 #1490 of 1964

Problem 1490

National Olympiad second round; IMO P1/P4
Geometry Difficulty 7.1 Multiple choice

Let SS be a square of side length 11. Two points are chosen independently at random on the sides of SS. The probability that the straight-line distance between the points is at least 12\tfrac12 is abπc\tfrac{a-b\pi}c, where aa, bb, and cc are positive integers and gcd(a,b,c)=1\gcd(a,b,c)=1. What is a+b+ca+b+c?

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Official solution

1. Let the square be ABCDABCD with side length 1. Suppose the two points chosen are PP and QQ. Without loss of generality, let PP lie on AB\overline{AB} with PP closer to AA than BB. Denote the length AP=xAP = x.

2. To find the probability that the straight-line distance between PP and QQ is at least 12\frac{1}{2}, we need to consider the regions on the perimeter of the square where QQ can lie such that the distance PQ12PQ \geq \frac{1}{2}.

3. The length of the portion of AB\overline{AB} that is within 12\frac{1}{2} units of PP is 12+x\frac{1}{2} + x. By the Pythagorean Theorem, the length of the portion of AD\overline{AD} that is within 12\frac{1}{2} units of PP is:
(12)2x2=1214x2. \sqrt{\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^2 - x^2} = \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2}.

4. Therefore, the total perimeter of the square that is not within 12\frac{1}{2} units of PP is:
4(12+x+1214x2). 4 - \left(\frac{1}{2} + x + \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2}\right).

5. The probability that QQ lies outside of 12\frac{1}{2} units of PP is:
4(12+x+1214x2)4=78x41814x2. \frac{4 - \left(\frac{1}{2} + x + \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2}\right)}{4} = \frac{7}{8} - \frac{x}{4} - \frac{1}{8}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2}.

6. We want the average probability that QQ lies outside of 12\frac{1}{2} units of PP. This is the average value of the function f(x)=78x41814x2f(x) = \frac{7}{8} - \frac{x}{4} - \frac{1}{8}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2} as PP ranges from AA to the midpoint of AB\overline{AB} (i.e., xx ranges from 0 to 12\frac{1}{2}).

7. The average value of ff is given by:
1(12)012f(x)dx=2012(78x41814x2)dx. \frac{1}{\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)} \int_{0}^{\frac{1}{2}} f(x) \, dx = 2\int_{0}^{\frac{1}{2}} \left(\frac{7}{8} - \frac{x}{4} - \frac{1}{8}\sqrt{1 - 4x^2}\right) \, dx.

8. The left integral simplifies to:
2[7x8x28]012=2(716132)=1316. 2\left[\frac{7x}{8} - \frac{x^2}{8}\right]_{0}^{\frac{1}{2}} = 2\left(\frac{7}{16} - \frac{1}{32}\right) = \frac{13}{16}.

9. For the right integral, we make the substitution t=2xt = 2x so that dx=dt2dx = \frac{dt}{2}:
1401214x2dx=14011t2(dt2)=18011t2dt. \frac{1}{4}\int_{0}^{\frac{1}{2}} \sqrt{1 - 4x^2} \, dx = \frac{1}{4} \int_{0}^{1} \sqrt{1 - t^2} \, \left(\frac{dt}{2}\right) = \frac{1}{8} \int_{0}^{1} \sqrt{1 - t^2} \, dt.

10. The integral 011t2dt\int_{0}^{1} \sqrt{1 - t^2} \, dt represents the area of a quarter circle of radius 1, which is π4\frac{\pi}{4}. Therefore:
18(π4)=π32. \frac{1}{8}\left(\frac{\pi}{4}\right) = \frac{\pi}{32}.

11. Therefore, our desired probability is:
1316π32=26π32. \frac{13}{16} - \frac{\pi}{32} = \frac{26 - \pi}{32}.

12. The final answer is a+b+c=26+1+32=59a + b + c = 26 + 1 + 32 = 59.

The final answer is 59\boxed{59}.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty, ordering) added by this project.