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Printsmc
geometry senior
Problem
A point is chosen at random within the square in the coordinate plane whose vertices are and . The probability that the point is within units of a lattice point is . (A point is a lattice point if and are both integers.) What is to the nearest tenth
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Solution
We consider an individual one-by-one block. If we draw a quarter of a circle from each corner (where the lattice points are located), each with radius , the area covered by the circles should be . Because of this, and the fact that there are four circles, we write Solving for , we obtain , where with , we get , and from here, we see that To be more rigorous, note that since if then clearly the probability is greater than . This would make sure the above solution works, as if there is overlap with the quartercircles.
Final answer
B