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Geometry Difficulty 4.6 AIME Find the answer China

Given a unit cube ABCDA1B1C1D1ABCD-A_1B_1C_1D_1, construct a ball with point AA as the center and of radius 233\frac{2\sqrt{3}}{3}. Then the length of the curves resulting from the intersection between the surfaces of the ball and cube is ______.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

As shown in the figure, the surface of the ball intersects all of the six surfaces of the cube. The intersection curves are divided into two kinds: One kind lies on the three surfaces including vertex AA respectively, that is AA1B1BAA_1B_1B, ABCDABCD, and AA1D1DAA_1D_1D; while the other lies on the three surfaces not including AA, that is CC1D1DCC_1D_1D, A1B1C1D1A_1B_1C_1D_1 and BB1C1CBB_1C_1C.

Figure 1

On surface AA1B1BAA_1B_1B, the intersection curve is arc EF^\widehat{EF} which lies on a circle with AA as the center. Since AE=233AE = \frac{2\sqrt{3}}{3}, AA1=1AA_1 = 1, so A1AE=π6\angle A_1AE = \frac{\pi}{6}. In the same way BAF=π6\angle BAF = \frac{\pi}{6}. Therefore EAF=π6\angle EAF = \frac{\pi}{6}. That means the length of arc EF^\widehat{EF} is 233π6=3π9\frac{2\sqrt{3}}{3} \cdot \frac{\pi}{6} = \frac{\sqrt{3}\pi}{9}. There are three arcs of this category.

On surface BB1C1CBB_1C_1C, the intersection curve is arc FG^\widehat{FG} which lies on a circle centred at BB. The radius equals 33\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3} and FBG=π2\angle FBG = \frac{\pi}{2}. So the length of FG^\widehat{FG} is 33π2=3π6\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3} \cdot \frac{\pi}{2} = \frac{\sqrt{3}\pi}{6}. There are also three arcs of this category.

In summary, the total length of all intersection curves is
3×39π+3×36π=53π6. 3 \times \frac{\sqrt{3}}{9}\pi + 3 \times \frac{\sqrt{3}}{6}\pi = \frac{5\sqrt{3}\pi}{6}.

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