The image below shows an aerial view of a 3-legged square table. Table dimensions and leg positions (in meters) are shown.
The portion of the table supported by the legs weighs 10 Newtons, and has a uniform mass distribution. The gravity force is into the page.
What is the geometric mean of the three vertical support forces supplied by the table legs?
If your answer is , enter the result as where denotes the floor function
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If the three thrusts are T 1 , T 2 , T 3 , the total moment on the table must be zero, and hence ⎝ ⎛ 3 1 0 ⎠ ⎞ ∧ ⎝ ⎛ 0 0 T 1 ⎠ ⎞ + ⎝ ⎛ 5 2 0 ⎠ ⎞ ∧ ⎝ ⎛ 0 0 T 2 ⎠ ⎞ + ⎝ ⎛ 1 5 0 ⎠ ⎞ ∧ ⎝ ⎛ 0 0 T 3 ⎠ ⎞ = ⎝ ⎛ 3 3 0 ⎠ ⎞ ∧ ⎝ ⎛ 0 0 1 0 ⎠ ⎞ and the total force acting on the table is 0 , so that T 1 + T 2 + T 3 = 1 0 . We obtain the simultaneous equations T 1 + 2 T 2 + 5 T 3 3 T 1 + 5 T 2 + T 3 T 1 + T 2 + T 3 = 3 0 = 3 0 = 1 0 and hence T 1 = 2 , T 2 = T 3 = 4 . Thus the answer is ⌊ 1 0 0 × 3 3 2 ⌋ = 3 1 7 .