Given that is a regular octahedron, that is the cube whose vertices are the centers of the faces of , and that the ratio of the volume of to that of is , where and are relatively prime integers, find .
Solution
1. Set the side length of the octahedron to 1 for simplicity.
- The volume of a regular octahedron with side length is given by:
- For :
2. Determine the height of the octahedron.
- An octahedron can be divided into two pyramids with a square base.
- The height of each pyramid can be found using a 45-45-90 triangle:
3. Find the side length of the cube.
- The vertices of the cube are the centers of the faces of the octahedron.
- The center of each face of the octahedron is the circumcenter of an equilateral triangle.
- The height of an equilateral triangle with side length 1 is:
- The circumcenter is of the way up the height of the triangle:
- The height of the pyramid above the circumcenter is:
4. Calculate the side length of the cube.
- The side length of the cube is the distance between two adjacent face centers of the octahedron.
- This distance is the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs and :
5. Calculate the volume of the cube.
- The volume of a cube with side length is :
6. Find the ratio of the volumes.
- The ratio of the volume of the octahedron to the volume of the cube is:
7. **Simplify the ratio and find .**
- The simplified ratio is:
- Therefore, and :
The final answer is .