1978 AHSME Problems/Problem 26

Problem

$[asy] size(100); real a=4, b=3; // import cse5; pathpen=black; pair A=(a,0), B=(0,b), C=(0,0); D(MP("A",A)--MP("B",B,N)--MP("C",C,SW)--cycle); pair X=IP(B--A,(0,0)--(b,a)); D(CP((X+C)/2,C)); D(MP("R",IP(CP((X+C)/2,C),B--C),NW)--MP("Q",IP(CP((X+C)/2,C),A--C+(0.1,0)))); //Credit to chezbgone2 for the diagram [/asy]$

In $\triangle ABC, AB = 10~ AC = 8$ and $BC = 6$ . Circle $P$ is the circle with smallest radius which passes through $C$ and is tangent to $AB$ . Let $Q$ and $R$ be the points of intersection, distinct from $C$ , of circle $P$ with sides $AC$ and $BC$ , respectively. The length of segment $QR$ is

$\textbf{(A) }4.75\qquad \textbf{(B) }4.8\qquad \textbf{(C) }5\qquad \textbf{(D) }4\sqrt{2}\qquad \textbf{(E) }3\sqrt{3}$

Solution

$\fbox{B}$

1978 AHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 25	Followed by Problem 27
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
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1978 AHSME Problems/Problem 26

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