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2006 AMC 10A Problem 24

Problem 24 of 25HarderGeometry

Centers of adjacent faces of a unit cube are joined to form a regular octahedron. What is the volume of this octahedron?

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Solution

The six face centers form a regular octahedron, viewed as two congruent square pyramids sharing a base. Adjacent face centers are 22\frac{\sqrt2}{2} apart, so the square base has area (22)2=12.\left(\frac{\sqrt2}{2}\right)^2 = \frac12. Each pyramid has height 12,\frac12, so its volume is 131212=112.\frac13 \cdot \frac12 \cdot \frac12 = \frac{1}{12}. The octahedron has volume 2112=16.2 \cdot \frac{1}{12} = \frac16. Thus, the correct answer is B.

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Concepts: 3D geometry · pyramid · volume

Problem text and solution from the LIVE past-contest archive. See also the AoPS wiki page for community solutions.