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Geometry Difficulty 4.8 AIME Find the answer

Find the area of triangle QCDQCD given that QQ is the intersection of the line through BB and the midpoint of ACAC with the plane through A,C,DA, C, D and NN is the midpoint of CDCD.

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

Solution

We place the points in the coordinate plane. We let A=(0,0,63),B=(0,33,0)A=\left(0,0, \frac{\sqrt{6}}{3}\right), B=\left(0, \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}, 0\right), C=(12,36,0)C=\left(-\frac{1}{2},-\frac{\sqrt{3}}{6}, 0\right), and D=(12,36,0)D=\left(\frac{1}{2}, \frac{\sqrt{3}}{6}, 0\right). The point PP is the origin, while MM is (0,0,66)\left(0,0, \frac{\sqrt{6}}{6}\right). The line through BB and MM is the line x=0,y=33z2x=0, y=\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}-z \sqrt{2}. The plane through A,CA, C, and DD has equation z=22y+23z=2 \sqrt{2} y+\sqrt{\frac{2}{3}}. The coordinates of QQ are the coordinates of the intersection of this line and this plane. Equating the equations and solving for yy and zz, we see that y=153y=-\frac{1}{5 \sqrt{3}} and z=65z=\frac{\sqrt{6}}{5}, so the coordinates of QQ are (0,153,65)\left(0,-\frac{1}{5 \sqrt{3}}, \frac{\sqrt{6}}{5}\right). Let NN be the midpoint of CDCD, which has coordinates (0,36,0)\left(0,-\frac{\sqrt{3}}{6}, 0\right). By the distance formula, QN=3310QN=\frac{3 \sqrt{3}}{10}. Thus, the area of QCDQCD is QNCD2=3320\frac{QN \cdot CD}{2}=\frac{3 \sqrt{3}}{20}.

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