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geometry senior
Problem
Two perpendicular chords intersect in a circle. The segments of one chord are and ; the segments of the other are and . Then the diameter of the circle is:
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
Solution
Let the chords intersect the circle at points and to form simple polygon . Further, let the chords intersect at point with and , as in the diagram. Then, because , by the Pythagorean Theorem, and . Because a circle is determined by three coplanar points, the circumcircle of will be the circumcircle of , so the circumdiameter of will be our desired answer. We know that . Furthermore, we know that we can express this area as , where and are 's side lengths and is its circumradius. Setting this expression equal to , we can now solve for : Because the problem asks for the diameter of the circle, our answer is .
Final answer
E