Shortest Distances (3D)
Geometry
Level
3
How long is the shortest path from point A to point B along the surface of this cube? The cube has side length 7, and each point is 2 units away from each of its nearest edges.
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
1 solution
Cut along the edges of the cube and flatten the surface of the cube as shown above. The shortest distance between
A
and
B
is of course a straight line between the two points. Since the two points are
7
units apart horizontally and vertically, the shortest distance is
7
2
+
7
2
=
9
8
.