1979 AHSME Problems/Problem 23

Revision as of 12:27, 9 January 2017 by E power pi times i (talk | contribs) (Solution)

Problem 23

The edges of a regular tetrahedron with vertices $A ,~ B,~ C$, and $D$ each have length one. Find the least possible distance between a pair of points $P$ and $Q$, where $P$ is on edge $AB$ and $Q$ is on edge $CD$.


[asy] size(150); import patterns; pair D=(0,0),C=(1,-1),B=(2.5,-0.2),A=(1,2),AA,BB,CC,DD,P,Q,aux; add("hatch",hatch()); //AA=new A and etc. draw(rotate(100,D)*(A--B--C--D--cycle)); AA=rotate(100,D)*A; BB=rotate(100,D)*D; CC=rotate(100,D)*C; DD=rotate(100,D)*B; aux=midpoint(AA--BB); draw(BB--DD); P=midpoint(AA--aux); aux=midpoint(CC--DD); Q=midpoint(CC--aux); draw(AA--CC,dashed); dot(P); dot(Q); fill(DD--BB--CC--cycle,pattern("hatch")); label("$A$",AA,W); label("$B$",BB,S); label("$C$",CC,E); label("$D$",DD,N); label("$P$",P,S); label("$Q$",Q,E); //Credit to TheMaskedMagician for the diagram[/asy]


$\textbf{(A) }\frac{1}{2}\qquad \textbf{(B) }\frac{3}{4}\qquad \textbf{(C) }\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}\qquad \textbf{(D) }\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}\qquad \textbf{(E) }\frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}$

Solution

$\boxed{\textbf{C}}$

See also

1979 AHSME (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 22
Followed by
Problem 24
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
All AHSME Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions. AMC logo.png