A starship is located in a halfspace at the distance $a$ from its boundary. The crew knows this but does not know which direction to move to reach the boundary plane. The starship may travel through the space by any path, may measure the way it has already travelled and has a sensor that signals when the boundary is reached. Is it possible to reach the boundary for sure, having passed no more than: $a)14a$ $b)13a$?

Let $M$ be the set of all tetrahedra whose inscribed and circumscribed spheres are concentric. If the radii of these spheres are denoted by $r$ and $R$ respectively, find the possible values of $R/r$ over all tetrahedra from $M$ .

A container in the shape of a right circular cone is 12 inches tall and its base has a 5-inch radius. The liquid that is sealed inside is 9 inches deep when the cone is held with its point down and its base horizontal. When the liquid is held with its point up and its base horizontal, the liquid is $m-n\sqrt[3]{p},$ where $m,$ $n,$ and $p$ are positive integers and $p$ is not divisible by the cube of any prime number. Find $m+n+p.$

The altitudes of a tetrahedron $ABCD$ are extended externally to points $A'$, $B'$, $C'$, and $D'$, where $AA' = k/h_a$, $BB' = k/h_b$, $CC' = k/h_c$, and $DD' = k/h_d$. Here, $k$ is a constant and $h_a$ denotes the length of the altitude of $ABCD$ from vertex $A$, etc. Prove that the centroid of tetrahedron $A'B'C'D'$ coincides with the centroid of $ABCD$.

We say that a tetrahedron is [i]median [/i] if and only if for each vertex the plane that passes through the midpoints of the edges emerging from the vertex is tangent to the inscribed sphere. Also a tetrahedron is called [i]regular [/i] if all its faces are congruent. Prove that a tetrahedron is regular if and only if it is median.

For dessert, Melinda eats a spherical scoop of ice cream with diameter $2$ inches. She prefers to eat her ice cream in cube-like shapes, however. She has a special machine which, given a sphere placed in space, cuts it through the planes $x = n$, $y = n$, and $z = n$ for every integer $n$ (not necessarily positive). Melinda centers the scoop of ice cream uniformly at random inside the cube $0 \le x, y,z \le 1$, and then cuts it into pieces using her machine. What is the expected number of pieces she cuts the ice cream into?

Given a regular tetrahedron $OABC$. Take points $P,\ Q,\ R$ on the sides $OA,\ OB,\ OC$ respectively. Note that $P,\ Q,\ R$ are different from the vertices of the tetrahedron $OABC$. If $\triangle{PQR}$ is an equilateral triangle, then prove that three sides $PQ,\ QR,\ RP$ are pararell to three sides $AB,\ BC,\ CA$ respectively. 30 points

A cube with side length $ 1$ is sliced by a plane that passes through two diagonally opposite vertices $ A$ and $ C$ and the midpoints $ B$ and $ D$ of two opposite edges not containing $ A$ and $ C$, ac shown. What is the area of quadrilateral $ ABCD$? [asy]import three; size(200); defaultpen(fontsize(8)+linewidth(0.7)); currentprojection=obliqueX; dotfactor=4; draw((0.5,0,0)--(0,0,0)--(0,0,1)--(0,0,0)--(0,1,0),linetype("4 4")); draw((0.5,0,1)--(0,0,1)--(0,1,1)--(0.5,1,1)--(0.5,0,1)--(0.5,0,0)--(0.5,1,0)--(0.5,1,1)); draw((0.5,1,0)--(0,1,0)--(0,1,1)); dot((0.5,0,0)); label("$A$",(0.5,0,0),WSW); dot((0,1,1)); label("$C$",(0,1,1),NE); dot((0.5,1,0.5)); label("$D$",(0.5,1,0.5),ESE); dot((0,0,0.5)); label("$B$",(0,0,0.5),NW);[/asy]$ \textbf{(A)}\ \frac {\sqrt6}{2} \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ \frac {5}{4} \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ \sqrt2 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ \frac {3}{2} \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ \sqrt3$

Given a regular tetrahedron $ABCD$ with edge length $1$ and a point $P$ inside it. What is the maximum value of $\left|PA\right|+\left|PB\right|+\left|PC\right|+\left|PD\right|$.

In cube $ABCD-A_1B_1C_1D_1$, $E$ is midpoint of $BC$, $F\in AA_1$, and $A_1F:FA=1:2$. Calculate the dihedral angle between plane $B_1EF$ and plane $A_1B_1C_1D_1$.

Prove the following assertion: The four altitudes of a tetrahedron $ABCD$ intersect in a point if and only if \[AB^2 + CD^2 = BC^2 + AD^2 = CA^2 + BD^2.\]

A set $ S$ of points from the space will be called [b]completely symmetric[/b] if it has at least three elements and fulfills the condition that for every two distinct points $ A$ and $ B$ from $ S$, the perpendicular bisector plane of the segment $ AB$ is a plane of symmetry for $ S$. Prove that if a completely symmetric set is finite, then it consists of the vertices of either a regular polygon, or a regular tetrahedron or a regular octahedron.

Let $AA',BB',CC'$ be parallel lines not lying in the same plane. Denote $U$ the intersection of the planes $A'BC,AB'C,ABC'$ and $V$ the intersection of the planes $AB'C',A'BC',A'B'C$. Show that the line $UV$ is parallel with $AA'$.

Suppose that the function $f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}$ satisfies \[f(x^3 + y^3)=(x+y)(f(x)^2-f(x)f(y)+f(y)^2)\] for all $x,y\in\mathbb{R}$. Prove that $f(1996x)=1996f(x)$ for all $x\in\mathbb{R}$.

Points $A, B, C,$ and $D{}$ lie on the surface of a sphere with diameter 1. Determine the maximum possible volume of tetrahedron $ABCD.$ [i]Proposed by Fredy Yip[/i]

Determine the sum of all possible surface area of a cube two of whose vertices are $(1,2,0)$ and $(3,3,2)$.

Given a rectangular parallelepiped $ABCDA_1B_1C_1D_1$, which has $AD= DC = 3\sqrt2$ cm, and $DD_1 = 8$ cm. Through the diagonal $B_1D$ of the parallelepiped $m$ parallel to line $A_1C_1$ is drawn on the plane $\gamma$. a) Draw a section of a parallelepiped with plane $\gamma$. b) Justify what geometric figure is this section, and find its area. (Alexander Shkolny)

Sphere $S$ with radius $100$ has diameter $\overline{AB}$ and center $C$. Four small spheres all with radius $17$ have centers that lie in a plane perpendicular to $\overline{AB}$ such that each of the four spheres is internally tangent to $S$ and externally tangent to two of the other small spheres. Find the radius of the smallest sphere that is both externally tangent to two of the four spheres with radius $17$ and internally tangent to $S$ at a point in the plane perpendicular to $\overline{AB}$ at $C$.

You have three colors $\{\text{red}, \text{blue}, \text{green}\}$ with which you can color the faces of a regular octahedron (8 triangle sided polyhedron, which is two square based pyramids stuck together at their base), but you must do so in a way that avoids coloring adjacent pieces with the same color. How many different coloring schemes are possible? (Two coloring schemes are considered equivalent if one can be rotated to fit the other.)

Perpendiculars at their centers of gravity (points of intersection of medians) are restored to the faces of the tetrahedron. Prove that the projections of the three perpendiculars to the fourth face intersect at one point.

Consider a pyramid whose base is an equilateral triangle $BCD$ and whose other faces are triangles isosceles, right at the common vertex $A$. An ant leaves the vertex $B$ arrives at a point $P$ of the $CD$ edge, from there goes to a point $Q$ of the edge $AC$ and returns to point $B$. If the path you made is minimal, how much is the angle $PQA$ ?

Let $ABCD$ be a tetrahedron; $B', C', D'$ be the midpoints of the edges $AB, AC, AD$; $G_A, G_B, G_C, G_D$ be the barycentres of the triangles $BCD, ACD, ABD, ABC$, and $G$ be the barycentre of the tetrahedron. Show that $A, G, G_B, G_C, G_D$ are all on a sphere if and only if $A, G, B', C', D'$ are also on a sphere. [i]Dan Brânzei[/i]

Two perpendicular planes intersect a sphere in two circles. These circles intersect in two points, $A$ and $B$, such that $AB=42$. If the radii of the two circles are $54$ and $66$, find $R^2$, where $R$ is the radius of the sphere.

(A.Khachaturyan, 10--11) a) All vertices of a pyramid lie on the facets of a cube but not on its edges, and each facet contains at least one vertex. What is the maximum possible number of the vertices of the pyramid? b) All vertices of a pyramid lie in the facet planes of a cube but not on the lines including its edges, and each facet plane contains at least one vertex. What is the maximum possible number of the vertices of the pyramid?

Sphere $S$ is inscribed in cone $C$. The height of $C$ equals its radius, and both equal $12+12\sqrt2$. Let the vertex of the cone be $A$ and the center of the sphere be $B$. Plane $P$ is tangent to $S$ and intersects $\overline{AB}$. $X$ is the point on the intersection of $P$ and $C$ closest to $A$. Given that $AX=6$, find the area of the region of $P$ enclosed by the intersection of $C$ and $P$.