Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 104 of 400 #704 of 1964

Problem 704

AIME late
Geometry Difficulty 5.3 Find the answer

[ Linear dependence of vectors ] [ Angles between lines and planes ]]

The side of the base of a regular quadrilateral pyramid is equal to aa. The lateral face forms an angle of 4545^{\circ} with the base plane. Find the volume of the pyramid.

A number or a short expression. Spacing, $ signs and \frac vs / are all fine.

Official solution

Let ABCDPA B C D P be the given regular quadrilateral pyramid with vertex P,AB=BC=CD=AD=a,MP, A B=B C=C D=A D=a, M- the center of the square ABCD,KA B C D, K - the midpoint of the segment ABA B. Since PKABP K \perp A B and MKABM K \perp A B, the angle PKMP K M is the linear angle of the dihedral angle between the plane of the lateral face ABPA B P and the plane of the base of the pyramid. By the condition \angle PKM=45P K M=45^{\circ}. Since the pyramid is regular, its height passes through the center of the base, so PMP M is the height of the pyramid. From the isosceles right triangle PKMP K M we find that PM=MK=a2P M=M K=\frac{a}{2}. Therefore,

VABCDP=13SABCDPM=13a2a2=a36 V_{A B C D P}=\frac{1}{3} S_{A B C D} \cdot P M=\frac{1}{3} a^2 \cdot \frac{a}{2}=\frac{a^{3}}{6}

## Answer

a36\frac{\mathbf{a}^{3}}{6}.

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