What is the relationship between the sphere and cone in this geometry problem?

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In summary, the conversation is about a problem involving finding the height and radius of a cone with a given hypotenuse and one side length. The conversation includes a discussion of the definition of x and how it relates to the cone's dimensions. The conversation also mentions the difficulty in reading the problem due to the background color.
  • #1
.ex.
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I have no idea how to start this problem. Wondering if anyone could help me get this started.

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/7295/img1261yg2.jpg

Thanks.
 
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  • #2
Well, part (A) is pretty easy, right?

And for part (B), there is a nice right riangle drawn with a hypotenuse of 4 and one side of length x; the third side is the radius of the cone.

So then you will have the cone's height and radius, and now there ought to be some formulas you know that apply ...
 
  • #3
uhm what is x? can't see a definition in either the picture or the text...
edit: is it that distance from the cones base to the centre of the spher?
 
  • #4
Yes, x is the distance from the center of the sphere to the center of the circular base of the cone. Having the background not so dark would have made it easier to read. Was this originally done on yellow paper?

Since the distance from the vertex of the cone is h and the distance from the vertex of the cone to the center of the sphere is 4, x= distance from center of sphere to center of the base of the cone is ?? As Avodyne said, you have a right triangle with hypotenuse 4, one leg equal to x and the other leg equal to the radius of the base.
 

FAQ: What is the relationship between the sphere and cone in this geometry problem?

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