Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 88 of 400 #688 of 2000

Problem 688

AIME late
Geometry Difficulty 5.3 Find the answer

9. The sum of the lengths of all curve segments formed by a moving point on the surface of a regular quadrilateral pyramid PABCDP-ABCD with lateral edge length and base edge length both being 4, and at a distance of 3 from the vertex PP, is \qquad .

Official solution

9 9 6π6 \pi Hint: On the side faces of the square pyramid, the moving point forms 4 arcs with a radius of 3 and a central angle of π3\frac{\pi}{3}, the total length of which is l1=4×π3×3=4πl_{1}=4 \times \frac{\pi}{3} \times 3=4 \pi.

It is also known that the height of the square pyramid h=42(22)2=22<3h=\sqrt{4^{2}-(2 \sqrt{2})^{2}}=2 \sqrt{2}<3, so the moving point forms a circle with a radius of r=32(22)2=1r=\sqrt{3^{2}-(2 \sqrt{2})^{2}}=1 on the base, the circumference of which is l2=2πl_{2}=2 \pi.

Therefore, the total length of all the curve segments formed by the moving point on the surface of the square pyramid is l1+l2=6πl_{1}+l_{2}=6 \pi.

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