2003 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 21

Problem

An object moves $8$ cm in a straight line from $A$ to $B$ , turns at an angle $\alpha$ , measured in radians and chosen at random from the interval $(0,\pi)$ , and moves $5$ cm in a straight line to $C$ . What is the probability that $AC < 7$ ?

$\mathrm{(A)}\ \frac{1}{6} \qquad\mathrm{(B)}\ \frac{1}{5} \qquad\mathrm{(C)}\ \frac{1}{4} \qquad\mathrm{(D)}\ \frac{1}{3} \qquad\mathrm{(E)}\ \frac{1}{2}$

Solution

By the Law of Cosines, $\begin{align*} AB^2 + AC^2 - 2 AB \cdot AC \cos \alpha = 89 - 80 \cos \alpha = AC^2 &< 49\\ \cos \alpha &< \frac 12\\ \end{align*}$

It follows that $0 < \alpha < \frac {\pi}3$ , and the probability is $\frac{\pi/3}{\pi} = \frac 13 \Rightarrow \mathrm{(D)}$ .

2003 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 20	Followed by Problem 22
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2003 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 21

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