1.
Activity 2-8: V, S and E

2. Do you have access to Autograph?
If you do, then clicking on the links in this Powerpoint
should open Autograph files automatically for you.
But if you don’t....
Click below, and you will taken to a file
where Autograph is embedded.
Autograph Activity link
activities/maxhikorski/carom html

3. E = total edge length S = total surface area V = volume

4. There are six ways to write E, S and V in order of size.
Interesting question:
can you find a cube for each order?
If not, what about a cuboid?

5. Let’s try a cube, of side x:
E = 12x, S = 6x2, V = x3
We can plot
y = 12x, y = 6x2, y = x3
together…
Autograph File 1
Only four regions!

6. log y = logx + log 12 logy = 2logx + log 6 log y = 3logx
Or, taking logs with
y = 12x, y= 6x2,y = x3
gives us
log y = logx + log 12 logy = 2logx + log 6 log y = 3logx
and now we can plot log y v log x:

7. It’s clear that only 4 out of 6 orders are possible.

8. 0 < x < 2 V < S < E
The four possible orders are:
0 < x < 2 V < S < E
2 < x < √12 V < E < S
√12 < x < 6 E < V < S
6 < x E < S < V

9. Can we find a cuboid with sides x, y, z such that S < E and S < V?

10. We need; xyz > 2xy + 2yz + 2zx
and 4x + 4y + 4z > 2xy + 2yz + 2zx
Now if a > b > 0 and c > d > 0, then ac > bd > 0

11. 4x2yz+4xy2z+4xyz2 > 4x2yz+4xy2z+4xyz2+f(x, y, z)
So if xyz > 2xy + 2yz + 2zx > 0 and 4x + 4y + 4z > 2xy + 2yz + 2zx > 0
then (4x+4y+4z)xyz > (2xy+2yz+2zx)2 So
4x2yz+4xy2z+4xyz2 > 4x2yz+4xy2z+4xyz2+f(x, y, z)
where f(x, y, z) > 0.
Contradiction!

12. If x = 3, y = 4 and z = 5, then V = 60, S = 94, E = 48.
Is there another cuboid
where the values for V, S, and E
are some other permutation of
60, 94 and 48?

13. (2x-a)(2x-b)(2x-c) = 8x3 – Ex2 + Sx – V
= 8x3 - 4(a+b+c)x2 + 2(ab+bc+ca)x - abc
= 8x3 – Ex2 + Sx – V
where E, S and V are for
the cuboid with sides a, b and c.
The equation 8x3 – Ex2 + Sx – V = 0
has roots a/2, b/2 and c/2.

14. So our question becomes:
which of the following six curves
has three positive roots?
y = 8x3  48x2 + 94x – 60, y = 8x3  48x2 + 60x – 94, y = 8x3  94x2 + 48x – 60, y = 8x3  94x2 + 60x – 48, y = 8x3  60x2 + 94x – 48, y = 8x3  60x2 + 48x – 94.

15. Just the one. What happens if we vary V, S and E? Autograph File 2

16. a = 8, b = 30, c = 29.
Yellow: roots are , , 2, sides are double.
V = 8, S = 30, E = 29.
Green: roots are 0.5, , , sides are double.
V = 8, S = 29, E = 30.

17. Carom is written by Jonny Griffiths, hello@jonny-griffiths.net
With thanks to: Rachel Bolton, for posing the interesting question at the start. Douglas Butler.
Carom is written by Jonny Griffiths,