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 be the radius of the inscribed sphere and R be the radius of the circumscribed sphere.
If r R can be expressed as r R = b a c , where a , b and c are coprime positive integers, find b ∗ c − a .
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I don't understand why R/r = 0.75*sqrt(5) have to be overcomplicated with all those square roots.
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It can be simplified to your result r R = 4 3 5 .
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I found the answer 4 3 5 , then most of the work was expressing it in the given unsimplified form! Nice puzzle apart from that, though.
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@Chris Lewis – It can be simplified to r R = 4 3 5 .
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 can be expressed as r R = b a c , where a , b and c are coprime positive integers, find b ∗ c − a .
This way the result is 1 7 .
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First we find w in terms of 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 of the truncated cone is h = 2 r
Using right △ A B C 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 ⟹
r = w m .
The volume of the inscribed sphere V s = 3 4 π ( w m ) 2 3
and
The volume of the truncated cone is V T = 3 2 π ( w 2 + w m + m 2 ) ( w m ) 2 1
V T = 2 V s ⟹ w 2 + w m + m 2 = 4 w m ⟹ w 2 − 3 w m + m 2 = 0 ⟹ w = ( 2 3 ± 5 ) m
Since m w > 1 we choose w = ( 2 3 + 5 ) m
Next we use the circumscribed sphere to find m R .
R 2 = z 2 + w 2 = R 2
R 2 = ( h − z ) 2 + m 2
⟹ z 2 + w 2 = h 2 − 2 h z + z 2 + m 2 ⟹ z = 2 h h 2 − w 2 + m 2
Using the values for w and h above and simplifying we obtain:
z = 4 2 3 + 5 7 + 5 m
Using R 2 = z 2 + w 2 and simplifying we obtain:
R = 4 3 3 + 5 5 ( 7 + 3 5 ) m and r = w m = 2 3 + 5 m
⟹ r R = 2 2 ( 3 + 5 ) 3 5 ( 7 + 3 5 ) = 2 2 3 ( 3 + 5 ) 2 5 ( 7 + 3 5 ) =
2 2 3 2 ( 7 + 3 5 ) 5 ( 7 + 3 5 ) = 4 3 5 = b a c ⟹ b ∗ c − a = 1 7 .