Companion Sheet Stock number: 14165

NCTM Mathematics Teacher Series

A
SLICE of
MATH Jack London Square, Oakland, California Alameda-Oakland Ferry Chimneys
TRUNCATING
A CYLINDER
to add beauty to an object that
might otherwise be nondescript.
One striking example of an
is
a technique often used in design

elliptical cross section can be seen in the

design of the San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art (pictured below), where a
massive cylinder has been truncated to form
a beautiful elliptical cross section made of
glass that is lit at night. The cross section
is so large that it can be seen by passengers
flying into or out of the airport.
Another prime example of an elliptical
cross section can be seen almost any time
you tune in to a television cooking show.
When the chef cuts up something like a
A SLICE of MATH
cucumber, banana, or sausage, and the knife
makes a 90-degree angle with the food item,
the cross section will be a circle. But if the
knife cuts through the item at an angle, the
cross section will be in the form of an ellipse.

The following questions assume that cylinders and cones do not include the interior points,
only the boundary points.

1 (a) When a plane parallel to the base of a cylinder or

cone intersects the cylinder or cone, WHAT is the
4 Figure 1 (right) shows two spheres tangent to the plane that
intersects the cylinder. The spheres and the cylinder have the
C1
cross section? same radii. PROVE geometrically that the intersection of the A
F1
(b) If the radius of the base of the cylinder is R and the plane and the cylinder is an ellipse and that the tangent points
F2
center of the cross section is at the origin of the xy-plane, of the spheres with the plane, one above the plane and one
C2
WHAT is the equation of this cross section? below, are the focal points of the ellipse. B

(c) Suppose that the radius of the base of the cone is

R and its height is H. WHAT is the equation, in terms 5
Edited by Ron Lancaster and Brigitte Bentele
Using the photographs of the two chimneys on the
of R, H, h, x, and y, of the cross section parallel to the Alameda-Oakland Ferry (above, right), which carries
Fig. 1 Two spheres in a cylinder tangent to an intersecting plane
base at a distance of h units above the base? commuters and tourists regularly between San Francisco

2 (a) In the photographs, when the intersecting plane is

not parallel to the base of a cylinder or cone, the cross
and Oakland, CONSIDER the following:
(a) As the Alameda-Oakland Ferry passes under
a bridge, you can measure the angle at
San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art

section is not circular. WHAT is the intersection in which the chimney bends from the
those situations? horizontal. WHAT is this angle?
(b) If the radius of a cylinder is 1 and the angle of (b) The two parallel chimneys
inclination of the plane that intersects it is 45°, FIND pictured above, one small
the equation of the intersection. and one large, allow
(c) GENERALIZE the equation for a cylinder with you to determine the
radius R and angle of inclination q. angle at which the
(d) IS the equation the same for the intersection of a cross section is made.
cone? If not, why not? WHAT is this angle?

3 Looking at the above photograph of the two

cylindrical columns at Jack London Square in Oakland,
(c) DESCRIBE
the changes in the
elliptical cross section
California, CAN you use the shadow on the interior of a cylinder as the
of the cylinder to determine the approximate time intersecting plane
of day when the photograph was taken? If not, what becomes more
additional information would you need? vertical.

An adaptation of the September 2009 Mathematical Lens department of

M A T H I S A L L A R O U N D U S
©2011 NCTM 14165
MATHEMATICAL
lens
An adaptation of the September 2009 Mathematical Lens department of NCTM’s member-benefit journal, Mathematics Teacher. Poster series edited by Ron Lancaster and Brigitte Bentele. Solutions can be found at www.nctm.org/more4U, using access code LNS11235.

NCTM’s member-benefit journal, Mathematics Teacher

solutions
1 (a) A circle. 3 No. You also need to know the time of year and the loca-
(b) x2 + y2 = R2. tion and orientation of the cylinders.
(c) By similar triangles (see fig. 2),
r H h 4 (a) By importing the Alameda-Oakland Ferry Chimney
= . photos into interactive geometry software and super-
R H
imposing segments on the smokestack and the bottom
Therefore, the equation of the circle is of the bridge, you can measure the angle between the
2 chimney and the bridge. This angle is approximately
⎛ H h⎞
x +y =R ⎜ . 2 2 2
47°. (See fig. 4a.)
⎝ H ⎟⎠
(b) Similarly, you can measure the angle formed by the side
2 (a) An ellipse. of the cylinder and the cross-sectional plane; this angle
is approximately 26°. (See fig. 4b.)
(b) As shown in figure 3, a plane intersects the cylinder
at a 45° angle to the xy-plane. The equation of the (c) The ellipse will become more elongated (its eccentricity
cylinder is x2 + y2 = 1, and the equation of the plane is will increase) as the angle increases.
z = y. Let (s, t) be the coordinate system of the plane
z = y. A relationship exists between the coordinate (d) The linear measure of the larger chimney is approxi-
system of the st-plane and the three-dimensional coordi- mately 3 times the smaller chimney. Therefore, its vol-
nates (x, y, z): By the Pythagorean theorem, y2 + z2 = s2 ume would be 27 times as much.
and x = t. Therefore, the equation of the curve formed
by the intersection of x2 + y2 = 1 and z = y becomes 5 Photographs 1 and 2 show models that illustrate this
question. Photograph 1 shows the plane intersecting the
y 2 + z 2 = s2 cylinder. Both show two ellipses formed by planes inter-
2 y 2 = s2 secting the cylinder at different angles. (Thanks are due
s2 our colleague, Elisabeth Ruedy, who used this question
t2 + = 1. and model to challenge her geometry students.—Eds.)
2
Figure 5 shows the cylinder, two spheres, and a cross
This is an equation of an ellipse in the st-plane with axes of section. Let P be any point of intersection of the plane and
the cylinder and let A and B be points on the equators of the
length 2 and 2 2.
spheres C1 and C2, respectively, on a parallel to the z-axis
through the center of the cylinder. Since PA and PF1 are
(c) In general, if the cylinder has a radius of R and the angle
both tangent segments from P to C1 and since PB and PF2
of inclination of the plane is q, then the intersection of
are both tangent segments from P to C2, PA = PF1 and
the cylinder x2 + y2 = R2 with the plane z = (tanq)y is
PB = PF2. PA + PB is a constant because the distance
s2 between two equators is constant, which means that
t2 + = R2 . PF1 + PF2 is a constant. Therefore, F1 and F2 are the focal
sec 2 θ
points of the ellipse formed by point P on the intersection
of the plane and the cylinder.
This is an equation of an ellipse in the st-plane with axes of
length 2R and 2Rsecq.

(d) No. Both the angle of the cone and the angle of incli-
nation of the intersecting plane need to be considered
when formulating the equation of this ellipse.

These solutions can also be found at www.nctm.org/more4U, using access code LNS11235.

MATHEMATICAL
lens
www.nctm.org ©2011 NCTM
solutions (continued)

z s

H y
r R sec θ
θ
R x=t

R
Fig. 2 Similar triangles allow us to express the
variables R, H, and h in terms of one another.

Fig. 3 A plane intersects a cylinder at an angle of 45° to the horizontal.

C1
A
F1
F2

C2
B

(a)

Fig. 5 An interactive geometry software model of photographs 7 and 8

(b)

Fig. 4 Interactive geometry software can be used to

determine the angle between chimney and bridge (a).
The angle formed by the side of the cylinder and the
intersecting plane is about 26° (b).

Photograph 1 Photograph 2
DAVID EBERT

DAVID EBERT

Spheres tangent to a The three spheres tangent

plane within a cylinder, to the cylinder and the
seen from above planes, viewed from the side

MATHEMATICAL
lens
www.nctm.org ©2011 NCTM