Let be the volume of the largest hexagonal pyramid that can be inscribed in a sphere of radius .
In the hexagonal pyramid with volume to the right, find the angle (in degrees) between two adjacent slant faces to two decimal places.
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Let O P be the height H of the hexagonal pyramid.
Let E : ( 2 − x , 2 3 , 0 ) , A : ( 2 − x , 2 − 3 , 0 ) , F : ( − x , 0 , 0 ) , P : ( 0 , 0 , H ) .
F P = x i + 0 j + H k , E P = 2 x i − 2 3 x j + H k , A P = 2 x i + 2 3 x j + H k
u = F P × E P = 2 3 x H i − 2 x H j − 2 3 x 2 k and v = F P × A P = 2 − 3 x H i − 2 x H j + 2 3 x 2 k
u ⋅ v = 4 − x 2 ( 2 H 2 + 3 x 2 ) and ∣ u ∣ = ∣ v ∣ = 2 x 4 H 2 + 3 x 2 ⟹ cos ( θ ) = ∣ u ∣ ∣ v ∣ u ⋅ v = 4 H 2 + 3 x 2 − ( 2 H 2 + 3 x 2 ) , where θ is the angle between the two adjacent slant faces.
Let V s = 3 4 π R 3 be the volume of the sphere.
The Area A h e x a g o n = 2 3 3 x 2 ⟹ V p = 2 3 x 2 H
In the right triangle above: A C = H − R , B C = x , A B = R ⟹ x 2 = 2 H R − H 2 ⟹ V p ( H ) = 2 3 ( 2 H 2 R − H 3 ) ⟹ d H d V p = 2 3 H ( 4 R − 3 H ) = 0 H = 0 ⟹ H = 3 4 R ⟹ x 2 = 9 8
Using H 2 = 9 1 6 R 2 , x 2 = 9 8 R 2 and cos ( θ ) = 4 H 2 + 3 x 2 − ( 2 H 2 + 3 x 2 ) ⟹ cos ( θ ) = 1 1 − 7 ⟹ θ = 1 2 9 . 5 2 ∘