Let and be points in space for which . Let be the region of points for which and . Compute the largest possible side length of a cube contained within .
Solution
Let be the distance between the center of one sphere and the center of the opposite face of the cube. Let be the side length of the cube. Then we can draw a right triangle by connecting the center of the sphere, the center of the opposite face of the cube, and one of the vertices that make up that face. This gives us . Because the centers of the spheres are 1 unit apart, , giving us the quadratic . Solving yields .
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.