This document contains the solution to a geometry problem posed by the USA Mathematical Talent Search. The problem asks to find the length of the portion of the intersection of two planes P and Q inside a tetrahedron ABCD.
The solution notes that the two tetrahedrons formed by the intersection of plane P with ABCD and plane Q with ABCD are similar. Using properties of similar triangles, the length of the intersection BC000 is calculated to be 8(√3 - 1).
This document contains the solution to a geometry problem posed by the USA Mathematical Talent Search. The problem asks to find the length of the portion of the intersection of two planes P and Q inside a tetrahedron ABCD.
The solution notes that the two tetrahedrons formed by the intersection of plane P with ABCD and plane Q with ABCD are similar. Using properties of similar triangles, the length of the intersection BC000 is calculated to be 8(√3 - 1).
This document contains the solution to a geometry problem posed by the USA Mathematical Talent Search. The problem asks to find the length of the portion of the intersection of two planes P and Q inside a tetrahedron ABCD.
The solution notes that the two tetrahedrons formed by the intersection of plane P with ABCD and plane Q with ABCD are similar. Using properties of similar triangles, the length of the intersection BC000 is calculated to be 8(√3 - 1).
This document contains the solution to a geometry problem posed by the USA Mathematical Talent Search. The problem asks to find the length of the portion of the intersection of two planes P and Q inside a tetrahedron ABCD.
The solution notes that the two tetrahedrons formed by the intersection of plane P with ABCD and plane Q with ABCD are similar. Using properties of similar triangles, the length of the intersection BC000 is calculated to be 8(√3 - 1).
5/1/18. ABCD is a tetrahedron such that AB = 6, BC = 8, AC = AD = 10, and
BD = CD = 12. Plane P is parallel to face ABC and divides the tetrahedron into two pieces of equal volume. Plane Q is parallel to face DBC and also divides ABCD into two pieces of equal volume. Line ` is the intersection of planes P and Q. Find the length of the portion of ` that is inside ABCD.
Credit This problem was proposed by Richard Rusczyk.
Comments This problem is best solved by using similar tetrahedra, and drawing a nice diagram. To solve three-dimensional geometry problems, one technique that may help is to Create PDF with GO2PDF for free, if you wish to remove this line, click here to buy Virtual PDF Printer
consider the two-dimenaional analogue. Solutions edited by Naoki Sato.
Solution 1 by: James Sundstrom (12/NJ)
Let A0 denote the intersection of plane P and AD, and define points B 0 and C 0 similarly. Let B 00 denote the intersection of plane Q and AB, and define points C 00 and D00 similarly. Let B 000 denote the intersection of P, Q, and face ABD, and let C 000 denote the intersection of P, Q, and face ACD. Then the problem asks for the length of B 000 C 000 . USA Mathematical Talent Search Solutions to Problem 5/1/18 www.usamts.org
Tetrahedrons ABCD and A0 B 0 C 0 D are similar because plane P is parallelto face ABC. 0 0 0 0 3 3 The volume of ABCD is twice the volume of A B C D, so A D = AD/ 2 = 10/ 2. 00 3 0 00 0 00 0 00 3 Similarly, AD = 10/ 2. Since A D+AD = AD+A D , we find that A D = 20/ 210 = 3 10( 4 1). Since plane P and face ABC are parallel, and plane Q and face DBC are parallel, tetrahedrons ABCD and A0 B 000 C 000 D00 are similar. Therefore,
000 000 BC A 0 00 D 8 10( 3 4 1) 3 B C = = = 8( 4 1). AD 10 Create PDF with GO2PDF for free, if you wish to remove this line, click here to buy Virtual PDF Printer
