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Geometry Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Find the answer China

Suppose that a ball with radius 11 moves freely inside a regular tetrahedron with edge length 464\sqrt{6}. Then the area of the inner surface of the container, which the ball can never touch, is ______.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

As shown in Fig. 1, consider the situation where the ball is in a corner of the container. Draw the plane A1B1C1ABCA_1B_1C_1 \parallel ABC, tangent to the ball at point DD. Then the ball center OO is also the center of the tetrahedron PA1B1C1P-A_1B_1C_1, with POA1B1C1PO \perp A_1B_1C_1 and the foot point DD being the center of A1B1C1\triangle A_1B_1C_1.

Since
Figure 1

VPA1B1C1=13×SA1B1C1×PD=4×VOA1B1C1=4×13×SA1B1C1×OD, \begin{aligned} V_{P-A_1B_1C_1} &= \frac{1}{3} \times S_{\triangle A_1B_1C_1} \times PD \\ &= 4 \times V_{O-A_1B_1C_1} \\ &= 4 \times \frac{1}{3} \times S_{\triangle A_1B_1C_1} \times OD, \end{aligned}
we have PD=4OD=4rPD = 4OD = 4r, where rr is the radius of the ball. It follows that
PO=PDOD=3r. PO = PD - OD = 3r.
Suppose that the ball is tangent to the plane PABPAB at point P1P_1. Then we have
PP1=PO2OP12=(3r)2r2=22r. PP_1 = \sqrt{PO^2 - OP_1^2} = \sqrt{(3r)^2 - r^2} = 2\sqrt{2}r.
As shown in Fig. 2, it is easy to see that the locus of the ball on the plane PABPAB is also a regular triangle, denoted by P1EFP_1EF. Through P1P_1 draw P1MPAP_1M \perp PA with point MM on PAPA. Then MPP1=π6\angle MPP_1 = \frac{\pi}{6}, and
PM=PP1×cosMPP1=22r×32=6r. PM = PP_1 \times \cos \angle MPP_1 = 2\sqrt{2}r \times \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} = \sqrt{6}r.
Figure 2

It follows that P1E=PA2PM=a26rP_1E = PA - 2PM = a - 2\sqrt{6}r, where a=PAa = PA. Now, the space on PABPAB which the ball will never touch is the shaded part of Fig. 2, and its size is equal to
SPABSP1EF=34(a2(a26r)2)=32ar63r2=24363=183, \begin{align*} S_{\triangle PAB} - S_{\triangle P_1EF} &= \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}(a^2 - (a - 2\sqrt{6}r)^2) \\ &= 3\sqrt{2}ar - 6\sqrt{3}r^2 \\ &= 24\sqrt{3} - 6\sqrt{3} \\ &= 18\sqrt{3}, \end{align*}
since r=1r = 1 and a=46a = 4\sqrt{6} under given conditions. Then the total untouched area is
4×183=723. 4 \times 18\sqrt{3} = 72\sqrt{3}.

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