Consider a pyramid whose base is a regular n -gon.
Let V p ( n ) be the volume of the largest pyramid above that can be inscribed in a sphere of radius R .
In the above n -gonal pyramid with volume V p ( n ) , let λ ( n ) be the angle between two adjacent slant faces.
Find lim n → ∞ cos ( λ ( n ) ) .
Note: My intention is to find cos ( λ ( n ) ) , then find lim n → ∞ cos ( λ ( n ) ) .
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True, but my intention was to actually derive the result.
I may post another similar problem. The problem is restated as:
Consider a pyramid whose base is a regular n -gon.
Let V p ( n ) be the volume of the largest pyramid above that can be inscribed in a sphere of radius R .
In the above n -gonal pyramid with volume V p ( n ) , let λ ( n ) be the angle between two adjacent slant faces.
Find λ ( 1 0 ) (in degrees) to eight decimal places.
Assume the diagram above is any n -gonal pyramid.
Let O P be the height H of the pyramid, θ = n 2 π , and r be the radius of the n -gon.
Let E : ( − r cos ( θ ) , r sin ( θ ) , 0 ) , A : ( − r cos ( θ ) , − r sin ( θ ) , 0 ) , F : ( − r , 0 , 0 ) , P : ( 0 , 0 , H ) .
F P = r i + 0 j + H k , E P = r cos ( θ ) i − r sin ( θ ) j + H k , A P = r cos ( θ ) i + r sin ( θ ) j + H k
u = F P × E P = H r sin ( θ ) i + H r ( cos ( θ ) − 1 ) j − r 2 sin ( θ )
v = F P × A P = − H r sin ( θ ) i + H r ( cos ( θ ) − 1 ) j + r 2 sin ( θ )
u ⋅ v = − r 2 H 2 sin 2 ( θ ) + r 2 H 2 ( cos ( θ ) − 1 ) 2 − r 4 sin 2 ( θ )
∣ u ∣ = ∣ v ∣ ⟹ ∣ u ∣ ∗ ∣ v ∣ = ∣ u ∣ 2 = r 2 H 2 sin 2 ( θ ) + r 2 H 2 ( cos ( θ ) − 1 ) 2 + r 4 sin 2 ( θ )
⟹ cos ( λ ) = H 2 ( sin 2 ( θ ) + ( cos ( θ ) − 1 ) 2 ) + r 2 sin 2 ( θ ) H 2 ( sin 2 ( θ ) + ( cos ( θ ) − 1 ) 2 ) − r 2 sin 2 ( θ ) .
After doing some very tedious simplifying we obtain:
cos ( λ ) = − 2 h 2 + r 2 + r 2 cos ( θ ) ( 2 h 2 + r 2 ) cos ( θ ) + r 2
Let B C = x be a side of the n − g o n , A C = A B = r , A D = h ∗ , and ∠ B A D = n π .
2 x = r sin ( n π ) ⟹ r = 2 sin ( n π ) x ⟹ h ∗ = 2 x cot ( n π ) ⟹ A △ A B C = 4 1 cot ( n π ) x 2 ⟹
A n − g o n = 4 n cot ( n π ) x 2 ⟹ V p = 1 2 n cot ( n π ) x 2 H
The volume of the sphere V s = 3 4 π R 3
Let H be the height of the given pyramid.
In the right triangle above: A C = H − R , B C = 2 sin ( n π ) x , A B = R ⟹
R 2 = ( H − R ) 2 + 4 x 2 csc 2 ( n p i ) ⟹ x 2 = 4 H ( 2 R − H ) sin 2 ( n π )
⟹ V p ( H ) = 6 n sin ( n 2 π ) ( 2 R H 2 − H 3 ) ⟹
d H d V p = 6 n sin ( n 2 π ) ( H ) ( 4 R − 3 H ) = 0 , H = 0 ⟹ H = 3 4 R ⟹ x 2 = 9 3 2 sin 2 ( n π ) R 2 ⟹ x = 3 4 2 sin ( n π ) R
H = 3 4 R maximizes V p ( H ) since d H 2 d 2 V p ∣ ( H = 3 4 R ) = 3 − 2 n sin ( n π ) R < 0
H = 3 4 R and x 2 = 9 3 2 sin 2 ( n π ) R 2 .
From above r = 2 sin ( n π ) x ⟹ r 2 = 4 sin 2 ( n π ) x 2 .
Using cos ( λ ) = − 2 h 2 + r 2 + r 2 cos ( θ ) ( 2 h 2 + r 2 ) cos ( θ ) + r 2 , where θ = n 2 π and H 2 = 9 1 6 R 2 and x 2 = 9 3 2 sin 2 ( n π ) R 2 ⟹ r 2 = 9 8 ⟹ cos ( λ ( n ) ) = − 5 + cos ( n 2 π ) 5 cos ( n 2 π ) + 1 ⟹ lim n → ∞ cos ( λ ( n ) ) = − 1 .
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If n is the number of sides of the base of the pyramid, then as n approaches infinity, the pyramid approaches the shape of a cone. A cone has smooth sides, and so the angle between the slant faces of the pyramid as it becomes more cone shaped approach 180 degrees. cos ( 1 8 0 ∘ ) = − 1