2011 AIME I Problems/Problem 13
Contents
Problem
A cube with side length 10 is suspended above a plane. The vertex closest to the plane is labeled . The three vertices adjacent to vertex
are at heights 10, 11, and 12 above the plane. The distance from vertex
to the plane can be expressed as
, where
,
, and
are positive integers, and
. Find
.
Solution
Set the cube at the origin with the three vertices along the axes and the plane equal to , where
. Then the (directed) distance from any point (x,y,z) to the plane is
. So, by looking at the three vertices, we have
, and by rearranging and summing,
.
Solving the equation is easier if we substitute , to get
, or
. The distance from the origin to the plane is simply d, which is equal to
, so
Solution 2
Set the cube at the origin and the adjacent vertices as (10, 0, 0), (0, 10, 0) and (0, 0, 10). Then consider the plane ax + by + cz = 0. Because A has distance 0 to it (and distance d to the original, parallel plane), the distance from the other vertices to the plane is 10-d, 11-d, and 12-d respectively. The distance formula gives ,
, and
. An easy algebraic manipulation gives the equation in the first problem.
See also
2011 AIME I (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 12 |
Followed by Problem 14 | |
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 | ||
All AIME Problems and Solutions |
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