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Square size from a 5 by 10 box touching its incircle

Question

A circle sits inside a square, touching all four sides. In one corner of the square a 5×105\times10 rectangle is placed with two sides along the square's edges, and its opposite vertex lies exactly on the circle. How long is the square's side?

Short answer

5050. Put the corner at the origin, so the circle has centre (r,r)(r,r) and radius rr. The vertex (10,5)(10,5) on the circle gives (r−10)2+(r−5)2=r2(r-10)^2+(r-5)^2=r^2, i.e. r2−30r+125=0r^2-30r+125=0, so r=25r=25 (the root r=5r=5 would make the rectangle span the whole side). The side is 2r=502r=50.

Adapted from Crack, Heard on the Street, Q1.6, p.10; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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