Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 23 of 400 #623 of 2000

Problem 623

AIME late
Geometry Difficulty 5.1 Find the answer

8. The number of planes whose distances to the four vertices of a regular tetrahedron are in the ratio 1:1:1:21: 1: 1: \sqrt{2} is \qquad.

Official solution

8. 32 .

Let the vertices of a regular tetrahedron be A,B,C,DA, B, C, D. Then there are two types of planes whose distances to these four points are in the ratio 1:1:1:21: 1: 1: \sqrt{2}.
(1) Points A,B,CA, B, C are on the same side of plane α\alpha, there are two such planes;
(2) Points A,B,CA, B, C are on opposite sides of plane α\alpha, there are six such planes.
By swapping points A,B,C,DA, B, C, D, a total of 8×4=328 \times 4=32 planes that satisfy the condition are obtained.

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