prove the formula for the circumradius of an isosceles tetrahedron

124 Views Asked by At

Prove that the circumradius of an isosceles tetrahedron (one where opposite sides are equal) with sides $a,b,c$ is given by $R= \sqrt{\frac{1}8(a^2+b^2+c^2)}$.

I know how to show using vectors that the circumcenter of an isosceles tetrahedron is the centroid (i.e. the average of the vertices considered as vectors). Also, I think one approach to this question is to use coordinates. WLOG, let $A=(0,0,0), C=(b,0,0), B=(b_1,b_2,0), D = (d_1,d_2,d_3)$ be the vertices of the tetrahedron, which satisfy the following equations:

$(b_1-b)^2 + b_2^2 = a^2\tag{1}$ $b_1^2+b_2^2=c^2\tag{2}$ $(d_1-b)^2 + d_2^2 + d_3^2 = c^2\tag{3}$ $d_1^2 + d_2^2 + d_3^2 = a^2\tag{4}$ $(d_1 - b_1)^2 + (d_2-b_2)^2 + d_3^2\tag{5}$

One can then simplify the equation $R = \frac{1}4\sqrt{(d_1+b_1+b)^2 +(d_2+b_2)^2 + d_3^2}$, which can be obtained using the fact that the centroid is the circumcenter, but this does not seem like the easiest approach.

Anyways, we have that $R = \frac{1}4\sqrt{a^2 + b^2+c^2 + 2(d_1b_1+b_1b+d_1b+d_2b_2)}$ and $-a^2 - b^2-c^2 = 2(b_1b+d_1b+d_1b_1+d_2b_2)-2(d_1^2 + b_1^2 + b_2^2 + b^2 + d_2^2+d_3^2) = 2(b_1b+d_1+d_1b_1+d_2b_2) - 2(a^2+b^2+c^2)$ from which the formula follows.