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Circular Logic II (Posted on 2002-07-19) Difficulty: 4 of 5
In qball's Circular Logic, we were asked to determine the Area of the region common to a circle and a square, one vertex of which was at the center of the circle. The figure was drawn to show that e (the edge of the square) was greater than r (the radius of the circle), and the Area resolved to 25% that of the circle, or πr²/4.

But what if e were less than r? The second and third verteces would be inside the circle, and the Area becomes a function of e (expressed as a fraction of r). When e is less than r/(√2), the fourth vertex is within the circle, and the area of the common region becomes the area of the square e²

But what is the function f(x) such that A=f(e) for r ≥ e ≥ r/(√2) ?

Note: we already know that f(r) = πr²/4, and f(r/(√2)) = r²/2, because although the derivative of the greater function becomes discontinuous at these points, the function itself does not.

It was a comment by Manolo on the page for the original Circular Logic problem that suggested this one to me.

  Submitted by TomM    
Rating: 3.0000 (3 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
The common area can be divided into three sections:

two right triangles with legs e and √(r² - e²) (The total area of bot triangles is e[√(r² - e²)])

and a sector of the circle with angle A, where Angle A = 90º - 2(invcos e/r) (the area of the sector is (πr²)(A/360º)

The final form of the area function (in the specified range) is f(e) = e[√(r² - e²)] + (πr²)([90º - 2(invcos e/r)]/360º)

When e = r, the triangles degenerate into line segments with area 0, and angle A becomes 90º The final area is πr²/4.

When e = r/(√2), √(r² - e²) is also r/(√2), The triangles cover an area of r²/2 and Angle A becomes 0, causing the sector to degenerate into a line segment of area 0

Note: this solution was found using geometry, Solving it using analytic algebra or calculus might give valid answers with a different form.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
re: A solutionEric2003-09-07 10:01:59
SolutionA solutionNick Reed2002-07-19 03:04:30
Comment on "r"TomM2002-07-19 02:14:38
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