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A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently,
though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex.
3D model of a cone
A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines connecting a common point, the
apex, to all of the points on a base that is in a plane that does not contain the apex. Depending on
the author, the base may be restricted to be a circle, any one-dimensional quadratic form in the
plane, any closed one-dimensional figure, or any of the above plus all the enclosed points. If the
enclosed points are included in the base, the cone is a solid object; otherwise it is a two-
dimensional object in three-dimensional space. In the case of a solid object, the boundary formed
by these lines or partial lines is called the lateral surface; if the lateral surface is unbounded, it is a
conical surface.
In the case of line segments, the cone does not extend beyond the base, while in the case of half-
lines, it extends infinitely far. In the case of lines, the cone extends infinitely far in both directions
from the apex, in which case it is sometimes called a double cone. Either half of a double cone on
one side of the apex is called a nappe.
The axis of a cone is the straight line (if any), passing through the apex, about which the base
(and the whole cone) has a circular symmetry.
In common usage in elementary geometry, cones are assumed to be right circular, where circular
means that the base is a circle and right means that the axis passes through the centre of the
base at right angles to its plane.[1] If the cone is right circular the intersection of a plane with the
lateral surface is a conic section. In general, however, the base may be any shape [2] and the apex
may lie anywhere (though it is usually assumed that the base is bounded and therefore has finite
area, and that the apex lies outside the plane of the base). Contrasted with right cones are oblique
cones, in which the axis passes through the centre of the base non-perpendicularly. [3]
Depending on the context, "cone" may also mean specifically a convex cone or a projective cone.
Further terminology
The perimeter of the base of a cone is called the "directrix", and each of the line segments
between the directrix and apex is a "generatrix" or "generating line" of the lateral surface. (For the
connection between this sense of the term "directrix" and the directrix of a conic section, see
Dandelin spheres.)
The "base radius" of a circular cone is the radius of its base; often this is simply called the radius
of the cone. The aperture of a right circular cone is the maximum angle between two generatrix
lines; if the generatrix makes an angle θ to the axis, the aperture is 2θ.
Illustration from Problemata mathematica... published in Acta Eruditorum, 1734
A cone with a region including its apex cut off by a plane is called a "truncated cone"; if the
truncation plane is parallel to the cone's base, it is called a frustum.[1] An "elliptical cone" is a cone
with an elliptical base.[1] A "generalized cone" is the surface created by the set of lines passing
through a vertex and every point on a boundary (also see visual hull).
Volume
The volume of any conic solid is one third of the product of the area of the base and the
height [4]
In modern mathematics, this formula can easily be computed using calculus — it is, up to scaling,
the integral Without using calculus, the formula can be proven by comparing
the cone to a pyramid and applying Cavalieri's principle — specifically, comparing the cone to a
(vertically scaled) right square pyramid, which forms one third of a cube. This formula cannot be
proven without using such infinitesimal arguments — unlike the 2-dimensional formulae for
polyhedral area, though similar to the area of the circle — and hence admitted less rigorous
proofs before the advent of calculus, with the ancient Greeks using the method of exhaustion.
This is essentially the content of Hilbert's third problem — more precisely, not all polyhedral
pyramids are scissors congruent (can be cut apart into finite pieces and rearranged into the other),
and thus volume cannot be computed purely by using a decomposition argument —. [5]
Center of mass
The center of mass of a conic solid of uniform density lies one-quarter of the way from the center
of the base to the vertex, on the straight line joining the two.
Volume
For a circular cone with radius r and height h, the base is a circle of area and so the formula
for volume becomes[6]
Slant height
The slant height of a right circular cone is the distance from any point on the circle of its base to
the apex via a line segment along the surface of the cone. It is given by , where is the
radius of the base and is the height. This can be proved by the Pythagorean theorem.
Surface area
The lateral surface area of a right circular cone is where is the radius of the circle
at the bottom of the cone and is the slant height of the cone.[4] The surface area of the bottom
circle of a cone is the same as for any circle, . Thus, the total surface area of a right circular
cone can be expressed as each of the following:
(the area of the base plus the area of the lateral surface; the term is the slant
height)
The circular sector obtained by unfolding the surface of one nappe of the cone has:
radius R
arc length L
Equation form
where is the angle "around" the cone, and is the "height" along the cone.
A right solid circular cone with height and aperture , whose axis is the coordinate axis and
whose apex is the origin, is described parametrically as
where
More generally, a right circular cone with vertex at the origin, axis parallel to the vector , and
aperture , is given by the implicit vector equation where
or
Elliptic cone
An elliptical cone quadric surface
In the Cartesian coordinate system, an elliptic cone is the locus of an equation of the form[7]
It is an affine image of the right-circular unit cone with equation From the fact,
that the affine image of a conic section is a conic section of the same type (ellipse, parabola,...)
one gets:
Obviously, any right circular cone contains circles. This is also true, but less obvious, in the
general case (see circular section).
Projective geometry
In projective geometry, a cylinder is simply a cone whose apex is at infinity, which corresponds visually to a cylinder in
perspective appearing to be a cone towards the sky.
In projective geometry, a cylinder is simply a cone whose apex is at infinity.[8] Intuitively, if one
keeps the base fixed and takes the limit as the apex goes to infinity, one obtains a cylinder, the
angle of the side increasing as arctan, in the limit forming a right angle. This is useful in the
definition of degenerate conics, which require considering the cylindrical conics.
According to G. B. Halsted, a cone is generated similarly to a Steiner conic only with a projectivity
and axial pencils (not in perspective) rather than the projective ranges used for the Steiner conic:
"If two copunctual non-costraight axial pencils are projective but not perspective, the meets of
correlated planes form a 'conic surface of the second order', or 'cone'." [9]
Higher dimensions
The definition of a cone may be extended to higher dimensions (see convex cones). In this case,
one says that a convex set C in the real vector space Rn is a cone (with apex at the origin) if for
every vector x in C and every nonnegative real number a, the vector ax is in C.[2] In this context, the
analogues of circular cones are not usually special; in fact one is often interested in polyhedral
cones.
See also
Bicone
Cone (topology)
Cylinder (geometry)
Democritus
Generalized conic
Hyperboloid
List of shapes
Pyrometric cone
Quadric
Rotation of axes
Ruled surface
Translation of axes
Notes
4. Alexander, Daniel C.; Koeberlein, Geralyn M. (2014-01-01). Elementary Geometry for College Students (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=EN_KAgAAQBAJ) . Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781285965901.
6. Blank, Brian E.; Krantz, Steven George (2006-01-01). Calculus: Single Variable (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=hMY8lbX87Y8C) . Springer Science & Business Media. Chapter 8. ISBN 9781931914598.
References
Protter, Murray H.; Morrey, Jr., Charles B. (1970), College Calculus with Analytic Geometry
(2nd ed.), Reading: Addison-Wesley, LCCN 76087042 (https://lccn.loc.gov/76087042)
External links