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 m be the radius of the smaller base of the truncated cone and R be the radius of the circumscribed sphere.
If m R can be expressed as m R = b a ( c + c ) , where a , b and c are coprime positive integers, find a ∗ b − c .
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Why not 0.375*(5+sqrt(5))?
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It can be simplified to 8 3 ( 5 + 5 ) .
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This is the same issue as the last problem, though - you only get that particular unsimplified form if you use a certain solution root. If you're simplifying along the way, you get the neater form posted by @Saya Suka .
Perhaps an alternative would be to ask for the value of the ratio; you can insist on a certain level of precision by asking for ⌊ 1 0 d ⋅ S ⌋ as a solution. I get that this hides the elegance of the "true" form, but it would avoid this issue.
(By the way, this is an elegant set of shapes - the golden ratio is cropping up everywhere in my solution.)
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@Chris Lewis – I would like to repost the problem using the simplified form, but people had done the problem already.
I restated the problem as follows:
If m R can be expressed as m R = b a ( c + c ) , where a , b and c are coprime positive integers, find a ∗ c + b .
This way the result is 1 9 .
By the way, you could write m R = 4 3 5 ϕ .
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@Rocco Dalto – I was about to say "good save" but isn't the ratio 8 3 ( 5 + 5 ) ? (So you could change the required answer to a b − c , I suppose!)
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@Chris Lewis – Thanks. I made a mistake and accidently wrote 4 3 .
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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 ⟹
m R = 4 3 3 + 5 5 ( 7 + 3 5 ) = 8 3 5 ( 7 + 3 5 ) ( 3 − 5 ) =
8 3 3 0 + 1 0 5 = 8 3 ( 5 + 5 ) 2 = 8 3 ( 5 + 5 ) = b a ( c + c ) ⟹ a ∗ b − c = 1 9 .