
In the figure above, a circle with center O is inscribed in the square WXYZ. The segment XZ has a length of 3√2. What is the radius of the circle?
A. 1
B. 1.5
C. 2
D. 2.5
E. 3
(B) Triangle XYZ is an isosceles right triangle. Its hypotenuse is 3√2, so the length of each leg is 3. Since the diameter of the circle is equal to the height of the square, the diameter is equal to 3. So the radius is equal to 1.5 inches.
Alternatively, since the sides XY and ZY are equal, set them equal to
x. Then 2
x² = (3√2)² by the Pythagorean Theorem. Solving for
x:
x² = 9 and so
x = 3. Since
x represents the side of the square or the diameter of the circle, we divide by 2 to get the radius. So, the radius must be 1.5. The correct answer is (B).
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I don't understand what 3√2 means, how has this been simplified? How do you extract that each side is 3 from this length?