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Eight Points (Posted on 2008-02-01) Difficulty: 3 of 5
Eight points are placed on the surface of a sphere with a radius of 1. The shortest distance between any two points is greater than 1.2. How can the points be arranged?

Hint: They are not arranged as a cube. The cube would have an edge length of only 2/sqrt(3) = 1.1547.

See The Solution Submitted by Brian Smith    
Rating: 4.4000 (5 votes)

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Some Thoughts Puzzle Thoughts Comment 29 of 29 |
The points are arranged into two squares on parallel planes. One square is roatated 45 degrees relative to the other. This shape is known as a square antiprism.
The edge length equals 2*a, which is 2*sqrt( (4-sqrt(2)) / 7 ) = 1.21556.

Edited on June 6, 2023, 10:44 pm
  Posted by K Sengupta on 2023-06-06 22:43:41

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