Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 3 / 83 of 260 #83 of 1964

Problem 83

AMC 10/12, early questions
Geometry Difficulty 3.3 Find the answer

What is the maximum number of balls of clay of radius 22 that can completely fit inside a cube of side length 66 assuming the balls can be reshaped but not compressed before they are packed in the cube?

Pick one

Official solution

The volume of the cube is Vcube=63=216,V_{\text{cube}}=6^3=216, and the volume of a clay ball is Vball=43π23=323π.V_{\text{ball}}=\frac43\cdot\pi\cdot2^3=\frac{32}{3}\pi.
Since the balls can be reshaped but not compressed, the maximum number of balls that can completely fit inside a cube is VcubeVball=814π.\left\lfloor\frac{V_{\text{cube}}}{V_{\text{ball}}}\right\rfloor=\left\lfloor\frac{81}{4\pi}\right\rfloor.
Approximating with π3.14,\pi\approx3.14, we have 12<4π<13,12<4\pi<13, or 8113814π8112.\left\lfloor\frac{81}{13}\right\rfloor \leq \left\lfloor\frac{81}{4\pi}\right\rfloor \leq \left\lfloor\frac{81}{12}\right\rfloor. We simplify to get 6814π6,6 \leq \left\lfloor\frac{81}{4\pi}\right\rfloor \leq 6,
from which 814π=(D) 6.\left\lfloor\frac{81}{4\pi}\right\rfloor=\boxed{\textbf{(D) }6}.
~NH14 ~MRENTHUSIASM

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.