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2002 AMC 10A Problem 5

Problem 5 of 25EasierGeometry

Each of the small circles in the figure has radius one. The innermost circle is tangent to the six circles that surround it, and each of those circles is tangent to the large circle and to its small-circle neighbors. Find the area of the shaded region.

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Solution

The center of a surrounding circle is 22 from the center (two radii), and adding its own radius 11 gives a large radius of 3.3. The large circle has area 9π,9\pi, and the seven unit circles have total area 7π,7\pi, so the shaded region is 9π7π=2π.9\pi-7\pi=2\pi. Thus, the correct answer is C.

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Concepts: tangent circles · circle area

Problem text and solution from the LIVE past-contest archive. See also the AoPS wiki page for community solutions.