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Equilateral 1234 (Posted on 2012-03-17) Difficulty: 3 of 5

See Regular Tetrahedron 1234.

Construct an equilateral triangle such that its vertices and circumcentre are (in any order) 1,2,3, and 4 units from the origin.

What is the length of a side of the triangle?

See The Solution Submitted by broll    
Rating: 5.0000 (1 votes)

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re: No Maths - Calculations this time | Comment 3 of 7 |
(In reply to No Maths by brianjn)


                                     O ___ A
                                       |
                                       |
                                       Z  D
                             .B       |n
                                  m  |            C.
                                       |


Coord of B when knowing “m” and “n”:
OZ, BZ =2
      OB = 3
(2+n)²+m²= 3²
      n²+ m²= 2²

(2+n)² - n²= 3²– 2²
     4 + 4n =5
              n = ¼

              m²=2²-(1/4)²
                  = 3 15/16
              m =3√7 /4

AB² = (2+n)² + (m +1²
        =(2 +1/4)² + (3√7 /4 + 1)²

 
                                     O ___ .A  p .
                                       |
                                       |
                                       Z  D            q
                              B       |
                                       |             C .
                                       |
AC = AB

p² + q² = AC²
(1 + p²) + q² = 4²

1 + 2p = 4² – AC²
        p = (15 –AC²)/2

q²  = AC²-((15 –AC²)/2)²

q = √( AC²-((15 –AC²)/2)² )

BC² = (m + 1 + p)² + (q – (2+n))²

BC = √((m + 1 + p)² + (q – (2+n))²)

A copy of an “abridged” spreadsheet follows based upon the above outline.
                                   

 (I'll not try to                        OB    BZ    OZ       
 redraw the image                   3    2    2       
 that was in the                                
 spreadsheet but it                 n            AC   
 was a composite of               0.25        3.737463
 the two above.)                    m   
                                           1.98431            p   
                                                                  0.515687
                                           AB            q   
                                            3.73746            3.701715  
 
                                   
BC                                   
3.789126       
There is a difference of .05 against the other two sides.     
I'm assuming that is because I used secondary calculated values
rather than primary, ie, I've used Sqrt values rather that using   
the Square from which they were extracted.  That will have   
compounded through calculations.               
                                   
I haven’t calculated the co-ords of D.



  Posted by brianjn on 2012-03-30 02:50:15

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