The answer lies in the shadows .....

Geometry Level 5

Suppose T T is a triangle sitting (stationary) in R 3 \textbf{R}^{3} .

When T T is projected orthogonally onto the x y xy -, x z xz - and y z yz -planes, the respective areas of these projections, ("shadows", if you will), in these planes are 2 , 6 2, 6 and 9 9 units 2 ^{2} .

What is the area of T T , in units 2 ^{2} ?


The answer is 11.

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

I'll give a general solution for respective projected areas A , B A, B and C C first.

Let u u and v v be vectors representing (any) two sides of T T in both direction and magnitude. The area of T T is then one half the magnitude of the vector cross-product of these two vectors, i.e., ( 1 2 ) u × v (\frac{1}{2}) |u \times v| .

With i , j , k i,j,k being the standard unit vectors, we are thus given that

(i) ( 1 2 ) ( u × v ) k = A (\frac{1}{2}) |(u \times v) \cdot k| = A ,

(ii) ( 1 2 ) ( u × v ) j = B (\frac{1}{2}) |(u \times v) \cdot j| = B , and

(iii) ( 1 2 ) ( u × v ) i = C (\frac{1}{2}) |(u \times v) \cdot i| = C .

By Pythagoras we then have that ( 1 2 ) u × v = A 2 + B 2 + C 2 (\frac{1}{2}) |u \times v| = \sqrt{A^{2} + B^{2} + C^{2}} .

In this case, then, the area of T T is 4 + 36 + 81 = 11 \sqrt{4 + 36 + 81} = \boxed{11} .

I think this solution can be more generalized if we take the area vector A \textbf{A} , of the shape. This can be applied to any shape, whereas ( 1 2 ) ( u × v ) (\frac{1}{2}) (\vec{u} \times \vec{v}) is only applicable to triangles.

Pranshu Gaba - 6 years, 6 months ago

Log in to reply

Good point. I hadn't thought of this type of problem for a while, so the more triangle-specific method was the only approach that came to mind at first.

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 6 months ago

There is a typo in the question. The third area should be 9 instead of 7.

Pranshu Gaba - 6 years, 6 months ago

Log in to reply

@Pranshu Gaba You're right, (again). I have no idea how I missed that typo, since I have it right in my solution. Thank you!

I'm sorry that my mistake prevented you from getting the points for this one. :(

I could delete and then re-post, so you could then get the points. The question hasn't generated much activity anyway, so it might be worth giving it a fresh start.

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 6 months ago

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...