Please explain the process a bit, as I am completely lost and I do not know how to solve this at all.
The Square shown has a side of length 2 units. What is the radius of the circle? (Please explain)
4
$\begingroup$
geometry
-
1Place the point of tangency of the square and the circle at the Origin. Then the Origin is one point of the circle. The other two corners of the square on the circle have coordinates that can easily be established. Now you have three points of the circle – 2017-02-01
-
1Several answers to [Does the square or the circle have the greater perimeter? A surprisingly hard problem for high schoolers](http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1188845) explicitly solve this. – 2017-02-01
4 Answers
1
Hint:
Connect the upper two points of intersection (call them $A$ and $B$) with the point of intersection at the bottom of the square (call this $C$). What kind of triangle is $ABC$?
1
Hint: think at the circumradius of a triangle with sides $2,\sqrt{5},\sqrt{5}\,$.
0
You might use the following theorems and formulas:
- Centri-Peripheral-Theorem, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inscribed_angle#Theorem
- $t = \tan(\alpha)$ then $\sin(2 \alpha) = \frac{2 t}{1+t^2}$
- $1 = r \sin(2 \alpha)$, $r$ is the radius of the cycle
From the picture you see $t = 1/2$ put it into the formuar and solve for $r$!
$$ 1 = r \sin(2 \alpha) = r \frac{2 \, (\frac{1}{2})}{1+(\frac{1}{2})^2} = \frac{4}{5} r $$ Therefore C is the right answer.

