In a regular tetrahedron ,the centers of the four faces are the vertices of a smaller tetrahedron .The ratio of the smaller tetrahedron to that of larger is m/n ,where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find the value of (m+n).
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Let the lengths of side of the large and small tetrahedrons be a and b respectively, the top vertex be A and the bottom ones be B , C and D . Let also the midpoints of B C , C D and D B be M , N and O and the centers of △ A B C , △ A C D and △ A D B be P , Q and R respectively.
We note that the ratio of the volumes of the small to the large tetrahedrons n m = a 3 b 3 .
We also note that because of parallelism, the ratio of the side length of △ P Q R to that of △ M N O is the ratio of their perpendicular distances to A . This ratio is also the ratio of A P : A M .
The side length of △ P Q R = b
The side length of △ M N O = 2 1 a
Therefore, we have 2 1 a b = A M A P
Let A P = B P = r , ⇒ P M = r cos 3 0 ∘ = 2 1 r
⇒ 2 1 a b = A M A P = A P + P M A P = r + 2 1 r r = 2 3 1 = 3 2 ⇒ a b = 3 1
n m = a 3 b 3 = ( a b ) 3 = ( 3 1 ) 3 = 2 7 1 ⇒ m + n = 1 + 2 7 = 2 8 .