Truncated Square Pyramids

Geometry Level 4

In the diagram above, a sphere is inscribed in a truncated square pyramid such that the volume of the truncated square pyramid is twice the volume of the inscribed sphere.

Find the measure of the angle θ \theta (in degrees) made with the larger base.

Note: If 2 w 2w is the length of a side of the square base and h h is the height of the square truncated pyramid, then tan ( θ ) = h w \tan(\theta) = \dfrac{h}{w} .

I.E; θ \theta is not the slant height angle.


The answer is 58.91655379.

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1 solution

Rocco Dalto
Feb 8, 2020

Using the fact that tangents to a circle from an outside point are congruent we obtain the diagram above.

The height h h of the truncated square pyramid is h = 2 r h = 2r

Using right A B C \triangle{ABC} 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 (w + m)^2 = (w - m)^2 + 4r^2 \implies w^2 + 2wm + m^2 = w^2 - 2wm + m^2 + 4r^2 \implies 4wm = 4r^2 \implies r^2 = wm \implies

r = w m r = \sqrt{wm} .

The volume of the inscribed sphere V s = 4 3 π ( w m ) 3 2 V_{s} = \dfrac{4}{3}\pi(wm)^{\frac{3}{2}}

and

The volume of the truncated cone is V T = 2 π 3 ( 4 w 2 + 4 w m + 4 m 2 ) ( w m ) 1 2 V_{T} = \dfrac{2\pi}{3}(4w^2 + 4wm + 4m^2)(wm)^{\frac{1}{2}}

= 8 π 3 ( w 2 + w m + m 2 ) ( w m ) 1 2 = \dfrac{8\pi}{3}(w^2 + wm + m^2)(wm)^{\frac{1}{2}}

V T = 2 V s w 2 + w m + m 2 = π w m w 2 ( π 1 ) w m + m 2 = 0 V_{T} = 2V_{s} \implies w^2 + wm + m^2 = \pi wm \implies w^2 - (\pi - 1)wm + m^2 = 0 \implies w = ( π 1 ± ( π 1 ) 2 4 2 ) m w = (\dfrac{\pi - 1 \pm \sqrt{(\pi - 1)^2 - 4}}{2})m

Since w m > 1 \dfrac{w}{m} > 1 we choose w = ( π 1 + π 2 2 π 3 2 ) m w = (\dfrac{\pi - 1 + \sqrt{\pi^2 - 2\pi - 3}}{2})m

and h = 2 w m = ( 2 π 1 + π 2 2 π 3 2 ) m h = 2\sqrt{wm} = (2\sqrt{\dfrac{\pi - 1 + \sqrt{\pi^2 - 2\pi - 3}}{2}})m

tan ( θ ) = h w = 2 2 π 1 + π 2 2 π 3 \implies \tan(\theta) = \dfrac{h}{w} = \dfrac{2\sqrt{2}}{\sqrt{\pi - 1 + \sqrt{\pi^2 - 2\pi - 3}}}

θ 58.9165537 9 \implies \theta \approx \boxed{58.91655379^{\circ}}

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