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Printjmc
geometry senior
Problem
In a regular tetrahedron the centers of the four faces are the vertices of a smaller tetrahedron. The ratio of the volume of the smaller tetrahedron to that of the larger is , where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find .
Solution
Embed the tetrahedron in 4-space to make calculations easier. Its vertices are , , , . To get the center of any face, we take the average of the three coordinates of that face. The vertices of the center of the faces are: ,,,. The side length of the large tetrahedron is by the distance formula. The side length of the smaller tetrahedron is by the distance formula. Their ratio is , so the ratio of their volumes is . .
Final answer
28