2021 AMC 10 A Fall

Complete problem set with solutions and individual problem pages

Problem 15 Medium

Isosceles triangle A B C has A B=A C=3 \sqrt{6}, and a circle with radius 5 \sqrt{2} is tangent to line A B at B and to line A C at C. What is the area of the circle that passes through vertices A, B, and C ?(2021 AMC Fall 10A, Question #15)

  • A.

    24 \pi

  • B.

    25 \pi

  • C.

    26 \pi

  • D.

    27 \pi

  • E.

    28 \pi

Answer:C

Solution 1:

Let \odot O_{1} be the circle with radius 5 \sqrt{2} that is tangent to \overleftrightarrow{A B} at B and to \overleftrightarrow{A C} at C. Note that \angle A B O_{1}=\angle A C O_{1}=90^{\circ}. Since the opposite angles of quadrilateral A B O_{1} C are supplementary, quadrilateral A B O_{1} C is cyclic. Let \odot \text{O}_{2} be the circumcircle of quadrilateral A B O_{1} \text{C}. It follows that \odot \text{O}_{2} is also the circumcircle of \triangle A B C, as shown below:

By the Inscribed Angle Theorem, we conclude that \overline{A O_{1}} is the diameter of \odot O_{2}. By the Pythagorean Theorem on right \triangle A B O_{1}, we have A O_{1}=\sqrt{A B^{2}+B O_{1}^{2}}=2 \sqrt{26} . Therefore, the area of \odot O_{2} is \pi \cdot\left(\frac{A O_{1}}{2}\right)^{2}=(\mathbf{C}) 26 \pi.

Solution 2:

Because circle I is tangent to \overline{A B} at B, \angle A B I \cong 90^{\circ}. Because O is the circumcenter of \triangle A B C, \overline{O D} is the perpendicular bisector of \overline{A B}, and \angle B A I \cong \angle D A O, so therefore \triangle A D O \sim \triangle A B I by AA similarity. Then we have \frac{A D}{A B}=\frac{D O}{B I} \Longrightarrow \frac{1}{2}=\frac{r}{5 \sqrt{2}} \Longrightarrow r=\frac{5 \sqrt{2}}{2}. We also know that \overline{A D}=\frac{3 \sqrt{6}}{2} because of the perpendicular bisector, so the hypotenuse of \triangle A D O is \sqrt{\left(\frac{5 \sqrt{2}}{2}\right)^{2}+\left(\frac{3 \sqrt{6}}{2}\right)^{2}}=\sqrt{\frac{25}{2}+\frac{27}{2}}=\sqrt{26} This is the radius of the circumcircle of \triangle A B C, so the area of this circle is (\mathbf{C}) 26 \pi.