There are 36 glued contact points between the balls used to build a pyramid. So, option E is correct.
Given that,
The square base of the pyramid consists of 3 × 3 = 9 balls
The middle layer has 2 × 2 = 4 balls
The top layer has only one ball.
Thus, there are a total of 14 balls are used to build the pyramid.
Any two balls that touch each other are glued at their contact point.
The number of contact points in the base layer = 12 contact points
(4 corner balls touch the other two balls beside them(8 contact points) and the center ball touches the 4 balls around it. So, totally 12 points)
The number of contact points in the middle layer = 4 (since 4 balls touch one another)
The number of contact points in the top layer = 0 (no contacts, only a single ball)
Top layer to middle layer = 4
(since one ball at the top layer touches the four balls in the middle layer)
Middle layer to base layer = 16
(since each ball in the middle layer touches the 4 balls in the base layer. So, 4 × 4 = 16)
The total contact points in the pyramid = (sum of contact points for each layer) + (sum of contact points in between layers)
⇒ (12 + 4 + 0) + (4 + 16)
⇒ 16 + 20
⇒ 36
These are shown in the diagram.
Therefore, there are 36 contact points in the pyramid.
Learn more about counting contact points in a pyramid here:
https://brainly.com/question/5056521
#SPJ2
