# Volum of a cylinder in a cone (driving me insane!)

• August 14th 2010, 08:13 PM
Volum of a cylinder in a cone (driving me insane!)
a cylinder of radius r and height h is inscribed within a cone with bas radius 6 and height 20

1) show that the volume of the cylinder is given by

V= 10.(pi).r^2.(6-r)
--
3

2) find r and h

3) what is the maximum volume
• August 14th 2010, 08:37 PM
Unknown008
First, what is the relationship between the height of the cylinder and the radius of the cylinder?

If you make a sketch, you'll see that for a certain radius r, the cone would have a height of l = (r/6)*20, using similar triangles.

http://i36.tinypic.com/vy5ohf.png

From here, the height of the cylinder will become h = 20 - (20r)/6.

Then, the formula for the volume of a cylinder is

$V = \pi r^2 h$

Using the equation you got, you now get:

$V = \pi r^2 (20 - \frac{20r}{6})$

Simplifying;

$V = \frac{10}{3}\pi r^2 (6-r)$

For the second part, are you sure that's the question? Because r and h would vary, depending on the volume. If the question was in fact, "Find the value of r and h, provided that the volume of the cylinder is maximised." there there would be a solution.
• August 14th 2010, 08:45 PM