Finding the Volume of an Ice Cream

Cone

Candidate Name: Jae Hee Kim

Candidate Number: N/A

Course: Mathematics Higher Level

Exam Session: May 2019

Teacher: Ana Maria Heykoop

School: Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Date: September 29th, 2017

Word Count: 2889

 Table of Contents

Introduction ​------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2

Finding the Measurements of the Cone ​----------------------------------------------------------- 2

Finding the Volume of the Smaller Cone ​---------------------------------------------------------- 3

Finding the Volume of the Smaller Ice Cream Scoop ​-------------------------------------------- 7

Finding the Volume of the Bigger Ice Cream Cone ​---------------------------------------------- 10

Finding the Volume of the Ice Cream Scoop of the Bigger Ice Cream Cone ​----------------- 11

Conclusion ​--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11

Works Cited ​-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13

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Introduction​:
This exploration aims to find the volume of one huge ice cream cone, and two small ice cream
cones and compare their volumes, which I will find using the method of mensuration by parts, or dividing
up a certain three-dimensional shape into an infinite number of small pieces and adding the pieces all up
to find its volume.
I got the idea for this exploration in an ice cream shop, when I was fighting with my sister over
whether we should buy two small ice cream cones, or buy one huge ice cream cone and share it, as the
sum of the price of the two small ice cream cones is the same as one huge ice cream cone. The smaller ice
creams costed 7 soles, while the bigger ones costed 14 soles, soles being the unit for money in Lima,
Peru. This lead me to think about how I could measure the volume of an ice cream cone, and compare the
two volumes to find the most cost-effective one.

Different Sizes of Ice Cream Cones 1,2

​

Finding the Measurements of the Cone:

After measuring the smaller ice cream cone I had gotten from the ice cream shop near my house, I
found out that the small ice cream cone had a height of 9 cm. The shop owner had told me that the bigger
ice cream cone had a height 1.5 times of the smaller one, which meant that the bigger cone had a height of
13.5 cm. I also measured the smaller cone’s radius, and found out that it had a radius of 3 cm.

Figure 1

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 As it can be seen from Figure 1, the cone of the ice cream cone can be drawn two-dimensionally
into a isosceles triangle, which can be cut in half to make a right triangle.
According to the similar triangle properties (meaning that two triangles can be the same, but can
be of different sizes), if the size of three different angles are the same, the two triangles are similar.
Therefore, the conclusion that the larger cone and the smaller cone are similar triangles can be drawn.
Accordingly, the radius of the larger cone would be 3 × 1.5 = 4.5 cm.
Therefore, the radius of the smaller cone would be 3 cm, and the height would be 9 cm, while the
radius of the larger cone would be 4.5 cm, and the height would be 13.5 cm.

Part 1 - Finding the Volume of the Smaller Cone:

Figure 2

First of all, as can it can be seen from Figure 2, which is a figure I’ve made through Microsoft
Paint, the ice cream cone can be divided into two parts: the cone itself, which is a cone, and the ice cream
scoop, which is a semi-sphere.

I know, from 5th grade mathematics classes, that the equation for a sphere’s volume can be
written out as V = 34 πr3 , and the volume of a cone can be written as V = 31 r2 πh , the r being the radius
of the figures, and the h being the height of the figures, and π , or pi, being the mathematical coefficient,
defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. However, I was never told why exactly a
sphere’s volume is found with the said equation, or why the volume of a cone is found with the said
equation.
Despite this, I decided to find the volume of a cone, using the method of mensuration by parts,
instead of this formula, because I was skeptical of how accurate the formula is. I started out with finding
the volume of the smaller cone.

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 Figure 3

The cone can be divided into an uncountable amount of small cylinders with the exact same
height, but with radiuses that get smaller as they reach the top of the cone. Therefore, the volume of the
cone would be found by adding up all the cylinders and sending the amount of cylinders to limit infinity.
To find the volume more effectively, I drew the cone in a two-dimensional way:

Figure 4

That being said, if there are a n number of cylinders, it means that the height of one cylinder
h
(because the height of the cylinders are all the same) would be n . In this case, because h is the height of
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the smaller cone, the height of each cylinder would be n cm.
To add up the volumes of all of the cylinders, it is also required to find the radius of a cylinder, as
the equation to the volume of a cylinder is V = r2 πh .

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 Figure 5

To find the radius of the cylinder, I drew Figure 5. As seen in the diagram above, when there are a
k amount of cylinders, the summation of all the heights of the cylinders before the k th cylinder, and the
h
cylinder at the k th place would be defined as n × k . If the radius of the k th cylinder were defined as r ,
and if the radius of the whole cone were to be defined as R , then it can be seen that the green triangle,
highlighted in Figure 5, and the cone, sketched in a two-dimensional plane, and cut in half, are similar
triangles, according to the AAA theory, meaning that the two triangles have the same angles for all three
of its angles.
Because of this, the following equation can be derived from Figure 5:
h : R = nh × k : r
However, because h = 9cm , and R = 3cm , as it as defined above, the equation for the smaller
cone would be:
9
9:3= n ×k :r
k
∴r = n ×3
Here, as it was said earlier, r would be the radius of the k th​ cylinder.
Hence, the height of all of the cylinders would be defined as h = n9 cm, n being the number of
k
cylinders in the cone. The radius would be r = n × 3 , n being the number of cylinders in the cone, and k
being any whole number, representing how many cylinders there are before a cylinder, counting the
cylinder in that place. Also, the volume of one cylinder, if the volume would be expressed as V, it would
be written as:
2
V = π × ( 3kn ) × 9
n
cm​3

Therefore, the summation of all of the volumes of the cylinders when there is an unlimited
number of cylinders would be the volume of the cone. The summation would be found like the
following:​3

5
 ( ( ( ) ))
n−1
3k 2 9
lim ∑ π× n × n
n→∞ k=1

( ( ))
n−1
π81k 2
= lim ∑ n3
n→∞ k=1

( )
n−1 n
n(n+1)(2n+1)
= lim 81π
n3 ∑ k2 ( ∑ k2 = 6 )
n→∞ k=1 k=1

= lim (
n→∞
81π
n3 )×
(n−1)×n×(2n−1)
6

= lim (81π × ) 2n3 −3n2 +n

6n3
n→∞

= 81π lim ( ) 2n3 −3n2 +n

6n3
n→∞
2− 3n+ 1

= 81π lim ( ) 6
n2

n→∞
= 81π × 31
= 27π

As can be seen, I have solved, through the method of mensuration by parts, that the cone part of
the smaller ice cream cone is 27 π cm​3​.

Part 2 - Finding the Volume of the Smaller Ice Cream Scoop:

Figure 2

Going back to the initial diagram I had made of the ice cream cone (Figure 2), it can be seen that I
have solved for only the bottom part of the ice cream cone, or the “cone” part, of the smaller cone.
To find the volume of the ice cream scoop, I decided to diagram the ice cream scoop.

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 Figure 6

As seen from Figure 6, the ice cream scoop, or the semi-sphere, can be divided into an
uncountable amount of small cylinders with the exact same height, but with radiuses that get smaller as
they reach the top of the sphere. Hence, the volume of the sphere would be the same as adding up all the
cylinders in the sphere and sending the amount of cylinders to limit infinity.
To better understand this concept, I decided to diagram the sphere in a two-dimensional plane, as
I have done with the cone above.

Figure 7

Because I am finding the height of a cylinder that is inside a semi-sphere, and because the
semi-sphere’s height is the same as its radius, the height of one cylinder would be defined as h = nr , the
n being the number of cylinders inside the ice cream scoop. However, because the radius of the smaller
ice cream scoop was defined earlier as r = 3 cm, the height of the cylinder can be written as h = n3 .

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 Figure 8

As seen from Figure 8, to find the radius of a cylinder, I drew a right triangle. Because the sum of
all of the heights of the cylinders from the bottom cylinder to the k th cylinder is n3 × k , and because the
line that is drawn from the midpoint of the semi-sphere’s base to the right end of the k th​ cylinder is the
same as the radius of the semi-sphere, which can be seen in Figure 8, an equation for finding R , or the
radius of the k th cylinder can be found. This can be done by using the Pythagorean theorem that
c2 = a2 + b2 , c being the hypotenuse of the triangle, and a and b each being the sides of the triangle.

2
R2 = 32 − ( n3 × k )

√9 − (
2
∴R = 3
n × k)

Using the R value found from the equation above, one can formulate the equation for the volume
of the k th​ cylinder:

(
V = π 9 − ( n3 × k )
2
)× 3
n cm​3

As done previously when finding the volume of the cone, if one were to find the summation of all
of the volumes of the cylinders when there is an unlimited number of cylinders, that would result in that
being the volume of the semi-sphere, or the scoop of ice cream, in this case. The summation would be
found like the following:

( ) × ))
n−1
lim
n→∞ k=1
((
∑ π 9 − ( n3 × k )
2 3
n

( ))
n−1
= lim
n→∞
∑
k=1
27π
n3 (n 2 − k2

( ))
n−1
= lim
n→∞
27π
n3
k=1
(
∑ n2 − k 2

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 = lim
n→∞
( (n
27π
n3
2 (n − 1) −
(n−1)(n)(2n−1)
6 ))
= lim (27π ( ))
(n3 −1) 2n3 −3n2 +n
n3 − 6n3
n→∞

= 27π lim ( )
(n3 −1) 2n3 −3n2 +n
n3 − 6n3
n→∞

( (1− n13 ) 2− 3n+

)
1
n2
= 27π lim 1 − 6
n→∞

= 27π × (1 − 1
3 )
= 18π

Therefore, because of the calculations made above, it can be seen that the volume of the ice cream
scoop of the smaller ice cream cone is 18 π cm​3​.

Part 3 - Finding the Volume of the Bigger Ice Cream Cone:

Figure 9

The volume of the cone of the bigger ice cream cone can be found in the same way as the volume
of the smaller ice cream cone was found. To find the volume of the bigger ice cream cone, I got the
formula I had derived from the smaller cone, and substituted the values of h = 13.5 cm, and R = 4.5 cm
into the equation. Thus, I get the following:

( ( ))
n−1
2
lim ∑ π × ( 4.5k
n ) ×
13.5
n
n→∞ k=1

= 91.215π

Therefore, the volume of the bigger cone would be 91.215 π cm​3​.

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Part 4 - Finding the Volume of the Ice Cream Scoop of the Bigger Ice Cream Cone:

Figure 10

The volume of the ice cream scoop of the bigger ice cream cone would be found in the same way
as the volume of the smaller ice cream scoop was found. Therefore, I got the equation I had derived from
Part 2, and plugged in the value r = 4.5 cm.

( ) × ))
n−1
lim
n→∞ k=1
((
∑ π 20.25 − ( 4.5
n × k)
2 4.5
n

= 60.75π

On that account, it can be seen that the volume of the bigger ice cream scoop is 60.75 π cm​3​.

Part 5 - Conclusion
My initial goal was to compare the volume of one huge ice cream cone and two smaller ice cream
cones and find the most cost-effective one. According to my calculations above, it can be calculated that
the sum of the volumes of two of the smaller ice cream cones would be 90 π cm​3​, while the volume of
one huge ice cream cone would be 151.875 π cm​3​. As I have stated in my introduction, because the
smaller ice cream cones cost 7 soles each, and because the bigger ice cream costs 14 soles, according to
the prices set for each cone, two of the smaller ice cream cones should be of the same volume as one of
the bigger ice cream cone. However, as seen from the calculations above, one huge ice cream cone is a
whopping 61.875 π cm​3 bigger than two of the smaller ice cream cones put together. This makes me
come to the conclusion that it would be more cost-effective to buy one bigger ice cream cone rather than
two of the smaller cones.

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 The method I used to find this problem I had set up is called mensuration by parts, which, as seen
from my exploration above, consists of getting a shape that is either 2D or 3D and dividing it into an
infinite number of smaller parts and then adding them all up to find the area/volume of the initial shape.
This method is supposed to serve as an explanation of the mechanics of integral calculus, as the definite
integral is often used to find the area below a certain function, or the area of a function when rotated
around an axis, in the case of a 3D figure. Although I had been taught how to integrate in math classes at
school, I hadn't really thought of the mechanics behind the functions that I had been told to memorize, and
this exploration really helped me realize how integral calculus really works.
The exploration I have done supports the initial equations I had set up for the area of a
semi-sphere and a cone, V = 34 πr3 and V = 31 r2 πh , equations that I had been taught of in 5th grade. When
I substitute the values r = 3 cm and h = 9 cm as well as r = 4.5 cm and h = 13.5 cm into the equations
above, I get the same volume as when I solve it using the process of mensuration by parts, as I have done
with my exploration, proving that my methods were without error and rather accurate. The equations
mentioned above can be found by substituting the values r and h for both the radius and the height of the
figures.
This use of mensuration by parts could not only be used in real life by finding the volume of an
ice cream cone, but also the volume of constructions such as pyramids and fruits such as apples and even
figures like the eggs of a chicken. They are all figures that can be divided into an infinite number of small
pieces that are similar.
If I were to do the exploration again, I would most likely try to measure several of the smaller
cones and several of the larger cones and average out the volumes derived from each of the different sizes
of cones before concluding that the bigger cone is more cost-effective than buying two of the smaller
cones. The cones may vary in measurements by a few millimeters, which might affect the total volume
overall. Also, as there are several different ways to prove the volume of a cone and semi-sphere, if I were
to do this exploration again, I would like to try to find the volume using actual integral calculus. The
volume of the semi-sphere could be found by rotating ¼ of a circle function around the x-axis, for
example, which would require the learning of how a circle function works as well as explicit integration
methods, which I have not yet learned, but hope to learn in the future.

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 Works Cited

1​ ​
Ice Cream Menu | Pine View Dairy​. http://www.pineviewdairy.com/ice-cream-menu/. Accessed 6 Nov.
2017.

크기 슈퍼마켓/상점, 다수 Shap를 위한 주문 초콜렛 아이스크림 콘​.

2​

http://korean.waferproductionline.com/sale-8719864-size-custom-chocolate-ice-cream-cone-for-supermar
ket-store-multiple-shap.html. Accessed 6 Nov. 2017.

3​
Kerl, John. ​Induction and the Sum of Consecutive Squares​. http://johnkerl.org/doc/induction.pdf.

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