Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Find the answer

Example 3 (National I) In the right triangular prism ABCA1B1C1A B C-A_{1} B_{1} C_{1}, all vertices lie on the same sphere. If AB=AC=AA1=2,BAC=A B=A C=A A_{1}=2, \angle B A C= 120120^{\circ}, then the surface area of this sphere is \qquad

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

Solution

As shown in Figure 1, take the midpoint MM of BCBC, connect AMAM and extend it to DD such that AD=4AD=4. It is easy to prove that ABD\triangle ABD and ACD\triangle ACD are both right triangles. Therefore, quadrilateral ABDCABDC can be inscribed in a circle. Thus, we can use quadrilateral ABDCABDC as the base to complete the right prism ABCA1B1C1ABC-A_{1}B_{1}C_{1} into a right prism ABDCA1B1D1C1ABDC-A_{1}B_{1}D_{1}C_{1} inscribed in a sphere. From the given conditions, it is easy to find that the body diagonal A1D=25A_{1}D=2\sqrt{5}. Therefore, the radius of the circumscribed sphere is R=5R=\sqrt{5}, so the surface area of the sphere S=4πR2=20πS=4\pi R^{2}=20\pi. The answer should be 20π20\pi.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.