Circumscribed and Inscribed Spheres.

Geometry Level pending

In the diagram above, a sphere is inscribed in a truncated cone such that the volume of the truncated cone is twice the volume of the inscribed sphere and another sphere is circumscribed about the truncated cone.

Let r r be the radius of the inscribed sphere and R R be the radius of the circumscribed sphere.

If R r \dfrac{R}{r} can be expressed as R r = a b c \dfrac{R}{r} = \dfrac{a}{b}\sqrt{c} , where a , b a,b and c c are coprime positive integers, find b c a b * c - a .


The answer is 17.

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1 solution

Rocco Dalto
Feb 7, 2020

First we find w w in terms of m m using the inscribed sphere below.

Using the fact that tangents to a circle from an outside point are congruent we obtain the diagram above.

The height h h of the truncated cone is h = 2 r h = 2r

Using right A B C \triangle{ABC} we have:

( w + m ) 2 = ( w m ) 2 + 4 r 2 w 2 + 2 w m + m 2 = w 2 2 w m + m 2 + 4 r 2 4 w m = 4 r 2 r 2 = w m (w + m)^2 = (w - m)^2 + 4r^2 \implies w^2 + 2wm + m^2 = w^2 - 2wm + m^2 + 4r^2 \implies 4wm = 4r^2 \implies r^2 = wm \implies

r = w m r = \sqrt{wm} .

The volume of the inscribed sphere V s = 4 3 π ( w m ) 3 2 V_{s} = \dfrac{4}{3}\pi(wm)^{\frac{3}{2}}

and

The volume of the truncated cone is V T = 2 π 3 ( w 2 + w m + m 2 ) ( w m ) 1 2 V_{T} = \dfrac{2\pi}{3}(w^2 + wm + m^2)(wm)^{\frac{1}{2}}

V T = 2 V s w 2 + w m + m 2 = 4 w m w 2 3 w m + m 2 = 0 V_{T} = 2V_{s} \implies w^2 + wm + m^2 = 4wm \implies w^2 - 3wm + m^2 = 0 \implies w = ( 3 ± 5 2 ) m w = (\dfrac{3 \pm \sqrt{5}}{2})m

Since w m > 1 \dfrac{w}{m} > 1 we choose w = ( 3 + 5 2 ) m w = (\dfrac{3 + \sqrt{5}}{2})m

Next we use the circumscribed sphere to find R m \dfrac{R}{m} .

R 2 = z 2 + w 2 = R 2 R^2 = z^2 +w^2 = R^2

R 2 = ( h z ) 2 + m 2 R^2 = (h - z)^2 + m^2

z 2 + w 2 = h 2 2 h z + z 2 + m 2 z = h 2 w 2 + m 2 2 h \implies z^2 + w^2 = h^2 - 2hz + z^2 + m^2 \implies z = \dfrac{h^2 - w^2 + m^2}{2h}

Using the values for w w and h h above and simplifying we obtain:

z = 7 + 5 4 2 3 + 5 m z = \dfrac{7 + \sqrt{5}}{4\sqrt{2}\sqrt{3 + \sqrt{5}}} m

Using R 2 = z 2 + w 2 R^2 = z^2 + w^2 and simplifying we obtain:

R = 3 4 5 ( 7 + 3 5 ) 3 + 5 m R = \dfrac{3}{4}\sqrt{\dfrac{5(7 + 3\sqrt{5})}{3 + \sqrt{5}}} m and r = w m = 3 + 5 2 m r = \sqrt{wm} = \sqrt{\dfrac{3 + \sqrt{5}}{2}} m

R r = 3 5 ( 7 + 3 5 ) 2 2 ( 3 + 5 ) = \implies \dfrac{R}{r} = \dfrac{3\sqrt{5(7 + 3\sqrt{5})}}{2\sqrt{2}(3 + \sqrt{5})} = 3 2 2 5 ( 7 + 3 5 ) ( 3 + 5 ) 2 = \dfrac{3}{2\sqrt{2}}\sqrt{\dfrac{5(7 + 3\sqrt{5})}{(3 + \sqrt{5})^2}} =

3 2 2 5 ( 7 + 3 5 ) 2 ( 7 + 3 5 ) = \dfrac{3}{2\sqrt{2}}\sqrt{\dfrac{5(7 + 3\sqrt{5})}{2(7 + 3\sqrt{5})}} = 3 4 5 = \dfrac{3}{4}\sqrt{5} = a b c b c a = 17 \dfrac{a}{b}\sqrt{c} \implies b * c - a = \boxed{17} .

I don't understand why R/r = 0.75*sqrt(5) have to be overcomplicated with all those square roots.

Saya Suka - 1 year, 4 months ago

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It can be simplified to your result R r = 3 5 4 \dfrac{R}{r} = \dfrac{3\sqrt{5}}{4} .

Rocco Dalto - 1 year, 4 months ago

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I found the answer 3 4 5 \frac{3}{4} \sqrt5 , then most of the work was expressing it in the given unsimplified form! Nice puzzle apart from that, though.

Chris Lewis - 1 year, 4 months ago

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@Chris Lewis It can be simplified to R r = 3 5 4 \dfrac{R}{r} = \dfrac{3\sqrt{5}}{4} .

I didn't repost the problem using the simplified form since people has already done the problem.

I restated the problem as follows:

If R r \dfrac{R}{r} can be expressed as R r = a b c \dfrac{R}{r} = \dfrac{a}{b}\sqrt{c} , where a , b a,b and c c are coprime positive integers, find b c a b * c - a .

This way the result is 17 17 .

Rocco Dalto - 1 year, 4 months ago

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