Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it

Example 1 Let dd be the minimum of the distances between opposite edges of an arbitrary tetrahedron, and hh be the minimum of the heights of the tetrahedron. Prove that 2d>h2 d > h.

Solution

Proof: As shown in Figure 1, for definiteness, let the height from vertex AA to the opposite face BCDBCD in tetrahedron ABCDA-BCD be AH=hAH = h, and the distance between edges ABAB and CDCD be dd.

In the plane BCDBCD, draw a line lCDl \parallel CD through BB, and draw EFCDEF \perp CD at FF, intersecting ll at EE. Let FGFG and EKEK be the altitudes of AEF\triangle AEF. It is easy to see that ll \perp plane AEFAEF, so FGlFG \perp l. Also, FGAEFG \perp AE, hence FGFG is the distance from EE to plane AEBAEB. Since CDCD \parallel plane AEBAEB, FGFG is the distance between the skew lines CDCD and ABAB. Similarly, EKEK is equal to the height of tetrahedron ABCDA-BCD from vertex BB. Given that EKAHEK \geqslant AH, from AHEF=EKAFAH \cdot EF = EK \cdot AF we get
\begin{aligned} AF & \leqslant EF . \\ \text{ and } \frac{h}{d} & =\frac{AH}{FG}=\frac{AE}{EF}h$.

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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.