[Math] Cuboid for which the volume, the surface area and the perimeter are numerically equal

geometry

How to show that it is impossible to have a cuboid for which the volume, the surface area and the perimeter are numerically equal ? The perimeter
of a cuboid is the sum of the lengths of all its twelve edges.

Best Answer

I am assuming by "cuboid" you mean a rectangular box (which Wikipedia calls a "rectangular cuboid", the term "cuboid" being more general).

Then you are asking for a solution to the equations $$ 4(l + w + h) = 2(lw + wh + hl) = lwh. $$ Setting $c = l + w + h \in \mathbb{R}$, we construct the polynomial $$ (x - l)(x - w)(x - h) = x^3 - c x^2 + 2c x - 4c, $$ and we wish to know if it has three positive real roots for any real $c$. The discriminant of this polynomial is $$ -432 c^2+112 c^3-12 c^4 = -4c^2(3c^2 - 28c + 108), $$ which is strictly negative for all $c$, implying that there are two nonreal roots, and no solution to the equations exists for real numbers $l, w, h$.