Slant Hexagonal Pyramid.

Geometry Level pending

In the oblique hexagonal pyramid above the base is a regular hexagon with side length r r and the height is h = G A h = GA .

Find the value of r r and h h that minimizes the congruent faces G F E GFE and G B C GBC when the volume is held constant.

Compute m G F E = m G B C = λ m\angle{GFE} = m\angle{GBC} = \lambda (in degrees) to six decimal places.


The answer is 108.434949.

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1 solution

Rocco Dalto
Nov 17, 2018

Let r r be the length of a side of the hexagon and h = G A h = GA be the height of the hexagonal pyramid.

C : ( r 2 , 3 2 , 0 ) , B : ( r 2 , 3 2 , 0 ) C:(\dfrac{r}{2},\dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2},0), \:\ B:(-\dfrac{r}{2},\dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2},0) and G ( r , 0 , h ) G(r,0,h) .

u = r i + 0 j + 0 k \vec{u} = -r\vec{i} + 0\vec{j} + 0\vec{k} and v = r 2 i 3 2 j + h k u X v = 0 i + r h j + 3 2 r 2 k \vec{v} = \dfrac{r}{2}\vec{i} - \dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2}\vec{j} + h\vec{k} \implies \vec{u} X \vec{v} = 0\vec{i} + rh\vec{j} + \dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2}r^2\vec{k} \implies

d = 4 h 2 + 3 r 2 2 A G C B = A G E F = 1 4 4 h 2 + 3 r 2 r d = \dfrac{\sqrt{4h^2 + 3r^2}}{2} \implies A_{\triangle{GCB}} = A_{\triangle{GEF}} = \dfrac{1}{4}\sqrt{4h^2 + 3r^2}r

Let A = 1 4 4 h 2 + 3 r 2 r A = \dfrac{1}{4}\sqrt{4h^2 + 3r^2}r

The volume V = 1 4 3 r 2 h = k h = 4 3 r 2 V = \dfrac{1}{4\sqrt{3}}r^2h = k \implies h = \dfrac{4\sqrt{3}}{r^2} \implies A ( r ) = 1 4 192 k 2 + 3 r 6 r A(r) = \dfrac{1}{4}\dfrac{\sqrt{192k^2 + 3r^6}}{r} \implies d A d r = 3 ( r 6 32 k 2 ) 2 r 2 192 k 2 + 3 r 6 = 0 r = ( 4 2 k ) 1 3 h = 4 3 k ( 1 4 2 k ) 2 3 \dfrac{dA}{dr} = \dfrac{3(r^6 - 32k^2)}{2r^2\sqrt{192k^2 +3r^6}} = 0 \implies r = (4\sqrt{2}k)^{\frac{1}{3}} \implies h = 4\sqrt{3}k(\dfrac{1}{4\sqrt{2}k})^{\frac{2}{3}}

Using above diagram, Let θ = m G B Q = m G F P \theta = m\angle{GBQ} = m\angle{GFP} \implies

cos ( θ ) = u v u v = r 2 r 2 + h 2 = 1 10 θ 71.56505 1 \cos(\theta) = \dfrac{|\vec{u} \cdot \vec{v}|}{|\vec{u}||\vec{v}|} = \dfrac{r}{2\sqrt{r^2 + h^2}} = \dfrac{1}{\sqrt{10}} \implies \theta \approx 71.565051^\circ

λ = 18 0 θ = 108.434949 \implies \lambda = 180^\circ - \theta = \boxed{108.434949} .

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