Space between four spheres

Geometry Level pending

Four spheres of radius 1 are centred at the vertices of a tetrahedron with edge 2. What volume is the space between the spheres, inside the tetrahedron?

The answer can be written in the form a b c arccos ( d e ) f \frac{a\sqrt{b}-c \arccos(\frac{d}{e})}{f} If this expression is reduced to its simplest form ( a , b , c , d , e , f a,b,c,d,e,f positive integers, b b square free, gcd ( a , c , f ) = 1 , gcd ( d , e ) = 1 \gcd(a,c,f)=1, \gcd(d,e)=1 ), what is a + b + c + d + e + f a+b+c+d+e+f ?


The answer is 61.

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1 solution

K T
Nov 8, 2020

First let's calculate the volume of the tetrahedron. Its base is an equilateral triangle of area A = 3 A=\sqrt{3} and its height is h = 2 3 6 h=\frac{2}{3}\sqrt{6}

So its volume is V t e t r = 1 3 A h = 2 3 2 V_{tetr}=\frac{1}{3}Ah = \frac{2}{3}\sqrt{2}

Next we determine the solid angle of a tetrahedron (as seen from one of its vertices) From, for example, in Wikipedia , we use the formula. tan Ω 2 = a ( b × c ) a b c + c a b + a b c + b c a \tan\frac{Ω}{2}= \frac{|\vec{a}\cdot(\vec{b}×\vec{c})|} {|a||b||c|+|c|\vec{a}\cdot\vec{b}+|a|\vec{b}\cdot\vec{c}+|b|\vec{c}\cdot\vec{a}}

Using appropriate vectors that correspond to the edges from one vertex, for example a = ( 2 , 0 , 0 ) , b = ( 1 , 3 , 0 ) , c = ( 1 , 1 3 3 , 2 3 6 ) \vec{a}=(2,0,0), \vec{b}=(1,\sqrt{3},0), \vec{ c}= (1, \frac{1}{3}\sqrt{3}, \frac{2}{3}\sqrt{6}) , we get tan Ω 2 = 4 2 8 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 2 5 \tan\frac{Ω}{2} = \frac{ 4\sqrt{2}} {8+4+4+4} =\frac{ \sqrt{2}} {5}

Drawing a right-angled triangle, with right sides 5 5 and 2 \sqrt{2} , we get a hypothenuse of 3 3 3\sqrt{3} and  see that cos Ω 2 = 5 3 3 , sin Ω 2 = 2 3 3 \cos \frac{Ω}{2} = \frac{5}{ 3\sqrt{3}}, \sin \frac{Ω}{2} = \frac{\sqrt{2}}{ 3\sqrt{3}} Now using the double angle formula we find cos Ω = 25 27 2 27 = 23 27 \cos Ω = \frac{25}{27} - \frac{2}{27} = \frac{23}{27} and hence Ω = arccos 23 27 Ω=\arccos{\frac{23}{27}} The volume of a sphere of radius 1 equals 4 3 π \frac{4}{3}π , and the solid angle for a full sphere is 4π. So, the volume of the intersction of a sphere with the tetrahedron is V i n t e r s e c t = Ω 3 V_{intersect} = \frac{Ω}{3} . Now we have 4 such intersections, the volume between the spheres is V t e t r 4 V i n t e r s e c t = 2 3 2 4 Ω 3 = 2 2 4 arccos 23 27 3 V_{tetr} -4 V_{intersect} = \frac{2}{3}\sqrt{2}-\frac{4Ω}{3} = \frac{2\sqrt{2}-4\arccos{\frac{23}{27}}}{3} So the answer is 2 + 2 + 4 + 23 + 27 + 3 = 61 2+2+4+23+27+3=\boxed{61}

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