Art of Problem Solving
AoPS Online
Math texts, online classes, and more
for students in grades 5-12.
Visit AoPS Online ‚
Books for Grades 5-12 Online Courses
Beast Academy
Engaging math books and online learning
for students ages 6-13.
Visit Beast Academy ‚
Books for Ages 6-13 Beast Academy Online
AoPS Academy
Small live classes for advanced math
and language arts learners in grades 2-12.
Visit AoPS Academy ‚
Find a Physical Campus Visit the Virtual Campus

2015 AIME II Problems/Problem 9

Revision as of 19:42, 28 August 2017 by Expilncalc (talk | contribs) (→‎Solution: Minor edit for small calculations)

Problem

A cylindrical barrel with radius $4$ feet and height $10$ feet is full of water. A solid cube with side length $8$ feet is set into the barrel so that the diagonal of the cube is vertical. The volume of water thus displaced is $v$ cubic feet. Find $v^2$.

[asy] import three; import solids; size(5cm); currentprojection=orthographic(1,-1/6,1/6); draw(surface(revolution((0,0,0),(-2,-2*sqrt(3),0)--(-2,-2*sqrt(3),-10),Z,0,360)),white,nolight); triple A =(8*sqrt(6)/3,0,8*sqrt(3)/3), B = (-4*sqrt(6)/3,4*sqrt(2),8*sqrt(3)/3), C = (-4*sqrt(6)/3,-4*sqrt(2),8*sqrt(3)/3), X = (0,0,-2*sqrt(2)); draw(X--X+A--X+A+B--X+A+B+C); draw(X--X+B--X+A+B); draw(X--X+C--X+A+C--X+A+B+C); draw(X+A--X+A+C); draw(X+C--X+C+B--X+A+B+C,linetype("2 4")); draw(X+B--X+C+B,linetype("2 4")); draw(surface(revolution((0,0,0),(-2,-2*sqrt(3),0)--(-2,-2*sqrt(3),-10),Z,0,240)),white,nolight); draw((-2,-2*sqrt(3),0)..(4,0,0)..(-2,2*sqrt(3),0)); draw((-4*cos(atan(5)),-4*sin(atan(5)),0)--(-4*cos(atan(5)),-4*sin(atan(5)),-10)..(4,0,-10)..(4*cos(atan(5)),4*sin(atan(5)),-10)--(4*cos(atan(5)),4*sin(atan(5)),0)); draw((-2,-2*sqrt(3),0)..(-4,0,0)..(-2,2*sqrt(3),0),linetype("2 4")); [/asy]

Solution

Our aim is to find the volume of the part of the cube submerged in the cylinder. In the problem, since three edges emanate from each vertex, the boundary of the cylinder touches the cube at three points. Because the space diagonal of the cube is vertical, by the symmetry of the cube, the three points form an equilateral triangle. Because the radius of the circle is $4$, by the Law of Cosines, the side length s of the equilateral triangle is

\[s^2 = 2*(4^2) - 2*(4^2)\cos(120^{\circ}) = 3(4^2)\]

so $s = 4\sqrt{3}$.* Again by the symmetry of the cube, the volume we want to find is the volume of a tetrahedron with right angles on all faces at the submerged vertex, so since the lengths of the legs of the tetrahedron are $\frac{4\sqrt{3}}{\sqrt{2}} = 2\sqrt{6}$ (the three triangular faces touching the submerged vertex are all $45-45-90$ triangles) so

\[v = \frac{1}{3}(2\sqrt{6})\left(\frac{1}{2} \cdot (2\sqrt{6})^2\right) = \frac{1}{6} \cdot 48\sqrt{6} = 8\sqrt{6}\]

so

\[v^2 = 64 \cdot 6 = \boxed{384}\].

  • Note that in a 30-30-120 triangle, side length ratios are 1:1:$\sqrt{3}$.

See also

2015 AIME II (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by
Problem 8 		Followed by
Problem 10
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions

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

Retrieved from "https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php?title=2015_AIME_II_Problems/Problem_9&oldid=87233"