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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Brazil

For each finite subset FF of the space R3R^3, define Vr(F)V_r(F) as the union of the open spheres with center on each point of FF and radius rr. Prove that, for 0<r<R0 < r < R,
vol(VR(F))R3r3vol(Vr(F)). \mathrm{vol}(V_R(F)) \le \frac{R^3}{r^3} \mathrm{vol}(V_r(F)).

Solution

Let F={P1,P2,,Pn}F = \{P_1, P_2, \dots, P_n\} and let αij\alpha_{ij} be the perpendicular plane bisector of PiP_i and PjP_j for iji \neq j. Those planes define nn convex regions R1,R2,,RnR_1, R_2, \dots, R_n, where RiR_i is the intersection of the half-spaces determined by αij\alpha_{ij} that contain PiP_i. Finally, let Ar(i)A_r(i) be the intersection of RiR_i with the sphere with center PiP_i and radius rr. Thus, since the (disjoint) union of the regions RiR_i is the whole space, Vr(F)V_r(F) is the disjoint union of Ar(1),Ar(2),,Ar(n)A_r(1), A_r(2), \dots, A_r(n).

Now, for each point PiP_i, apply a homothety with center PiP_i and ratio r/R<1r/R < 1. It is clear that the image of AR(i)A_R(i) is contained in Ar(i)A_r(i), since a sphere with radius RR is taken to a sphere with radius rr and the planes αij\alpha_{ij} are taken to planes αij\alpha'_{ij} closer to PiP_i. Thus vol(Ar(i))(rR)3vol(AR(i))\text{vol}(A_r(i)) \ge (\frac{r}{R})^3 \text{vol}(A_R(i)) and the result follows by summing up these inequalities for i=1,2,,ni = 1, 2, \dots, n.

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