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Geometry Difficulty 3.3 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

A cube has edge length 4 m. One end of a rope of length 5 m is anchored to the centre of the top face of the cube. What is the integer formed by the rightmost two digits of the integer closest to 100 times the area of the surface of the cube that can be reached by the other end of the rope?

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

Solution

The top face of the cube is a square, which we label ABCDABCD, and we call its centre OO. Since the cube has edge length 4, then the side length of square ABCDABCD is 4. This means that OO is a perpendicular distance of 2 from each of the sides of square ABCDABCD, and thus is a distance of 22+22=8\sqrt{2^{2}+2^{2}}=\sqrt{8} from each of the vertices of ABCDABCD. These vertices are the farthest points on ABCDABCD from OO. Since 82.8\sqrt{8} \approx 2.8, then the loose end of the rope of length 5 can reach every point on ABCDABCD, which has area 16. Next, the rope cannot reach to the bottom face of the cube because the shortest distance along the surface of the cube from OO to the bottom face is 6 and the rope has length 5. We will confirm this in another way shortly. Also, since the rope is anchored to the centre of the top face and all of the faces are square, the rope can reach the same area on each of the four side faces. Suppose that the area of one of the side faces that can be reached is aa. Since the rope can reach the entire area of the top face, then the total area that can be reached is 16+4a16+4a. We thus need to determine the value of aa. Suppose that one of the side faces is square ABEFABEF, which has side length 4. Consider the figure created by square ABCDABCD and square ABEFABEF together. We can think of this as an 'unfolding' of part of the cube. When the rope is stretched tight, its loose end traces across square ABEFABEF an arc of a circle centred at OO and with radius 5. Notice that the farthest that the rope can reach down square ABEFABEF is a distance of 3, since its anchor is a distance of 2 from ABAB. This confirms that the rope cannot reach the bottom face of the cube since it would have to cross FEFE to do so. Suppose that this arc cuts AFAF at PP and cuts BEBE at QQ. We want to determine the area of square ABEFABEF above arcPQ\operatorname{arc} PQ (the shaded area); the area of this region is aa. We will calculate the value of aa by determining the area of rectangle ABQPABQP and adding the area of the region between the circular arc and line segment PQPQ. We will calculate this latter area by determining the area of sector OPQOPQ and subtracting the area of OPQ\triangle OPQ. We note that PQ=4PQ=4. Let MM be the midpoint of PQPQ; thus PM=MQ=2PM=MQ=2. Since OPQ\triangle OPQ is isosceles with OP=OQ=5OP=OQ=5, then OMOM is perpendicular to PQPQ. By the Pythagorean Theorem, OM=OP2PM2=5222=21OM=\sqrt{OP^{2}-PM^{2}}=\sqrt{5^{2}-2^{2}}=\sqrt{21}. Thus, the area of OPQ\triangle OPQ is 12PQOM=12421=221\frac{1}{2} \cdot PQ \cdot OM=\frac{1}{2} \cdot 4 \cdot \sqrt{21}=2 \sqrt{21}. Furthermore, since OO is a distance of 2 from ABAB and OM=21OM=\sqrt{21}, then the height of rectangle ABQPABQP is 212\sqrt{21}-2. Thus, the area of rectangle ABQPABQP is 4(212)=42184 \cdot(\sqrt{21}-2)=4 \sqrt{21}-8. To find the area of sector OPQOPQ, we note that the area of a circle with radius 5 is π52\pi \cdot 5^{2}, and so the area of the sector is POQ36025π\frac{\angle POQ}{360^{\circ}} \cdot 25 \pi. Now, POQ=2POM=2sin1(2/5)\angle POQ=2 \angle POM=2 \sin^{-1}(2/5), since POM\triangle POM is right-angled at MM which means that sin(POM)=PMOP\sin(\angle POM)=\frac{PM}{OP}. Thus, the area of the sector is 2sin1(2/5)36025π\frac{2 \sin^{-1}(2/5)}{360^{\circ}} \cdot 25 \pi. Putting this all together, we obtain 100A=100(16+4a)=1600+400a=1600+400((4218)+2sin1(2/5)36025π221)=1600+400(2218+2sin1(2/5)36025π)=800211600+800sin1(2/5)25π3606181.229100A=100(16+4a)=1600+400a=1600+400((4\sqrt{21}-8)+\frac{2\sin^{-1}(2/5)}{360^{\circ}} \cdot 25\pi-2\sqrt{21})=1600+400(2\sqrt{21}-8+\frac{2\sin^{-1}(2/5)}{360^{\circ}} \cdot 25\pi)=800\sqrt{21}-1600+\frac{800\sin^{-1}(2/5) \cdot 25\pi}{360^{\circ}} \approx 6181.229. Therefore, the integer closest to 100A100A is 6181, whose rightmost two digits are 81.

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