A right circular cone has a base radius of 100 , and a height of 200. We want to place three identical balls (spheres) inside the cone such that all three are tangent to the base of the cone, and to each other and also tangent to the curved surface of the cone. What is the radius of each of these balls ? Submit your answer using 3 significant digits.
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Consider a side and top view,
In the side view, we see △ A B C with sides A C = 2 0 0 , B C = 1 0 0 , and A B = 1 0 0 5 the sphere with radius r center D is tangent to B C and A B at E and F respectively. Draw D G parallel to A B then draw G H parallel to D F then draw D I parallel to B C .
It's simple to show △ A B C ∼ △ G D I ∼ △ A G H . Then using proportions G H = r , A H = 2 r , A G = r 5 . Also I C = r so subtracting A G and I C from A C gives G I = 2 0 0 − r − r 5 . By similar triangles again D I = 1 0 0 − 2 1 + 5 r
Now we turn our attention to the top view. D I is the same as before but this now part of 3 0 − 6 0 − 9 0 triangle D I J . Since D J = r , D I = 3 2 r
So now we have an equation to solve for r
1 0 0 − 2 1 + 5 r = 3 2 r
r = 3 + 4 3 + 3 5 6 0 0 ≈ 3 6 . 0 6 5 4 7 9