The rectangle
below has dimensions
and
. Diagonals
and
intersect at
. If triangle
is cut out and removed, edges
and
are joined, and the figure is then creased along segments
and
, we obtain a triangular pyramid, all four of whose faces are isosceles triangles. Find the volume of this pyramid.
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The outer edge B C D A will form an isoscelese triangle. Let put it in the xy-plane, such that its axis of symmetry coincides with the y-axis, and its base C D with the x-axis. It has vertices with these coordinates:
A and B will be at v 3 = ( 0 , y 3 , 0 )
By symmetry, the 4th vertex v 4 must lie in the y z -plane, so
P will be at v 4 = ( 0 , y 4 , z 4 ) .
Since d ( A , D ) = 1 3 3 = ∣ v 3 − v 1 ∣ = ∣ ( 6 3 , y 3 , 0 ) ∣ = 1 0 8 + y 3 2 we infer that y 3 = ± 3 9 9 . Let's choose the positive one: y 3 = 3 9 9
v 4 is equidistant to each of the other vertices. This distance (let's name it d ) is half a diagonal in the original plan, which is d = 2 1 ( 1 3 3 ) 2 + ( 1 2 3 ) 2 = 2 1 9 3 9
Now express the squared distance to each other vertex as d 1 4 2 = d 2 4 2 = 1 0 8 + y 4 2 + z 4 2 = d 2 d 3 4 2 = ( y 4 − y 3 ) 2 + z 4 2 = d 2
Setting these equal we get 1 0 8 + y 4 2 − ( y 4 − y 3 ) 2 = 0 , which simplifies to y 4 = y 3 / 2 − 5 4 / y 3 . Using the known value for y 3 we get y 4 = 7 9 8 2 9 1 3 9 9
Finally, using z 4 2 = d 2 − ( y 4 − y 3 ) 2 and filling in the known values, we find z 4 = 1 3 3 9 9
Numerically we have the following approximations, which makes it easier to check for mistakes:
v 1 = ( − 1 0 . 3 9 , 0 , 0 ) , v 2 = ( 1 0 . 3 9 , 0 , 0 ) , v 3 = ( 0 , 1 9 . 9 7 , 0 ) , v 4 = ( 0 , 7 . 2 8 4 , 8 . 5 8 4 )
d 1 2 = 2 0 . 7 8 , d 1 3 = d 2 3 = 2 2 . 5 2 , d 1 4 = d 2 4 = 1 5 . 3 2 , d 3 4 = 1 5 . 3 2
The volume of the piramid is given by V = 3 1 A h = 3 1 x 2 y 3 z 4 = 3 1 6 3 3 9 9 1 3 3 9 9 V = 5 9 4