Julia E.

asked • 05/22/19

Help with volumes please!

Two barrels filled with juice are similar in shape. The smaller barrel has a height of 3 feet. The larger barrel has a height of 4 feet. The total volume of the barrels is 273 cubic feet. What is the volume of the smaller barrel?

1 Expert Answer

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Julia E.

That is what I had been doing but the site says that the volume of the smaller barrel is 81 but I need to be able to explain how to get to this answer and I don't understand it.
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05/23/19

Mark J.

tutor
Julia..... Since there was no other information given, I assumed the barrels were straight-sided with the same diameter (my idea of similar!). Perhaps not a good assumption but with no other information given, the problem cannot be solved unless you have some idea what "similar" means in this example? If I assume that the barrels are both straight-sided but with different diameters, the 4D1^2 + 3D2^2 = 347.59 ft3 (From Volume1 + Volume2 = 273). Unless you know something about the diameter relationship between the two barrels, The problem has infinite solutions or more practically, you cannot arrive at 81?
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05/23/19

Julia E.

Ok, thank you for your help!
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05/23/19

Mark J.

tutor
Very welcome!
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05/23/19

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