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Geometry Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Find the answer Italy

Given, in space, three distinct points X,YX, Y and ZZ; we ask whether there exists a point PP different from X,YX, Y and ZZ such that the lines PX,PYP X, P Y and PZP Z are pairwise perpendicular. Four friends make the following statements:

Alberto: "There exist X,Y,ZX, Y, Z and PP belonging to the same plane that satisfy these conditions."

Barbara: "There do not exist 4 points X,Y,ZX, Y, Z and PP that satisfy these conditions."

Carlo: "In order for PP to exist it is necessary that XYZX Y Z be acute-angled."

Daria: "In order for PP to exist it is sufficient that XYZX Y Z not be obtuse-angled."

Who is right?

Pick one

Solution

Solution:

The answer is (C)(\mathbf{C}). The only one who is right is Carlo.

Alberto is wrong: indeed, if there existed X,Y,Z,PX, Y, Z, P belonging to the same plane such that PX,PYP X, P Y and PZP Z are pairwise perpendicular, then PZPX,PZPYP Z \perp P X, P Z \perp P Y and hence PYPXP Y \parallel P X, which is absurd.

Barbara is wrong: 4 such points are given, for example, by the endpoints of 3 edges of a cube sharing a common vertex (which will be PP), or more generally by the vertices of any right-angled tetrahedron.

Carlo is right: indeed, since XY2=PX2+PY2<PX2+PY2+2PZ2=XZ2+YZ2X Y^{2} = P X^{2} + P Y^{2} < P X^{2} + P Y^{2} + 2 \cdot P Z^{2} = X Z^{2} + Y Z^{2}, then XZY^\widehat{X Z Y} is acute, and similarly ZXY^\widehat{Z X Y} and XYZ^\widehat{X Y Z} are also acute. An alternative argument to show that Carlo is right is the following: consider the sphere with diameter XYX Y, then PP belongs to this sphere and the line PZP Z is perpendicular to the plane on which P,X,YP, X, Y lie, hence every point of this line (except PP) is outside the sphere. But then XZY^\widehat{X Z Y} is acute (and similarly ZXY^\widehat{Z X Y} and XYZ^\widehat{X Y Z} are also acute).

Daria is wrong: by what was said above, it is necessary that XYZX Y Z be acute-angled, so XYZX Y Z cannot be right-angled; in particular, it is not sufficient that XYZX Y Z not be obtuse-angled.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.