1983 AIME Problems/Problem 11
Problem
The solid shown has a square base of side length . The upper edge is parallel to the base and has length . All edges have length . Given that , what is the volume of the solid? [img]http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=791&sid=cfd5dae222dd7b8944719b56de7b8bf7[/img]
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Solution
First, we find the height of the figure by drawing a perpendicular from the midpoint of to . The hypotenuse of the triangle is the median of equilateral triangle one of the legs is . We apply the pythagorean theorem to find that the height is equal to .
Next, we complete the figure into a triangular prism, and find the area, which is .
Now, we subtract off the two extra pyramids that we included, whose combined area is .
Thus, our answer is .