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The Tower Project

Maddie Burgin and Daniel Hallam


Mr. Acre
Geometry and Algebra with Transformations
27 May 2014

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Part 1 - Introduction
When you think of a building, how many sides does it have? Many people would think of
a regular four sided building, but one millionaire dreams bigger than that. She wants a house that
is one of a kind - one where she can go into the basement and feel as if she is walking on water.
An eighteen sided tower with an aquarium built into the basement floor may be just the house
that the millionaire is looking for. She hired two architects to build the tower using concrete and
Plexiglass. While constructing the eighteen sided tower on a 39x39 square foot plot, the
architects will find the volume and surface area of the tower, and give a cost analysis of the
materials to the millionaire.
Part 2 - An Eighteen Sided Polygon Maximized on the Plot
To use the maximum amount of area allowed on the plot, one must know how to
maximize a shape on a piece of land. To do this, the number of sides has to be divided by 4. If
the number is divisible by 4, then two of the edges will be touching the plot edges, and if the
number is not divisible by 4, then two of the vertices will be touching the plot edges. In this case,
the 18 sided polygon is not divisible by 4, so two vertices will be touching the edge of the 33
foot by 33 foot building area. This means that the length from vertex to vertex across the polygon
will be 33 feet. When this is divided by 2, it is found that the length from the center of the 18-gon
to any vertex is 16.5 feet.

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Figure 1. Bases of the Tower


Figure 1 shows the bases used for constructing the tower. The outer square, which is the
plot that the tower is being built on, is 39 feet by 39 feet. The inner square, which is the allowed
building space on the plot, is 33 feet by 33 feet. The 3 foot space between polygon 1 and polygon
4 is the area where the footing will be built, and the 1 foot space between polygon 2 and polygon
3 is where the walls to the tower will be built.

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Figure 2. Polygon 1
Figure 2 shows the largest of the four polygons. Its area can be found using the formula
Area=(apothem)(perimeter) or by finding the area of one triangle and multiplying it by 18. To
use the first method, one must find one side of the polygon and the apothem, or the line forming
a right angle from the center to any side of the polygon. Because two of the vertices land on the
33 foot inner square, it is already known that the length from the center to any vertex is 16.5 feet.

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Figure 3. Area of Polygon 1


The area of polygon 1 was found first by finding the central angle. The central angle is
found by simply dividing 360o by the number of sides. The central angle is 20o. The hypotenuse
is 16.5 because it is the plot of land that is allowed to build on divided by 2. To find a side of
polygon 1 an angle of right triangle has to be found and since 20o is the central angle and the
apothem bisects it, it is 10o. To find length of half the side Sine is used because it is the opposite
side to the angle / the hypotenuse. When the equation is set up and solved for the side length it
becomes 33 * Sin (10o) ft or around 5.73 ft. To find the apothem Cosine is used because it is
adjacent side / hypotenuse. When the equation is set and solved for apothem it becomes 16.5 *
Cos (10o) ft or 16.25 ft. Area for all regular polygons is * perimeter * apothem. When all
previously found variable are plugged in the area of polygon 1 is found to be 4900.5 * Sin (10o)
* Cos (10o) ft2 or 838.04 ft2.

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Figure 4. Polygon 2
This figure shows polygon 2. Polygon 2 was used as the base shape for the outside of the
towers walls.

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Figure 5. Area of Polygon 2
To find the area of polygon 2, which is 1 foot inward from polygon 1, 1 ft was subtracted
from the apothem of polygon 1 to find the apothem of polygon 2. The apothem of polygon 2 is
16.5 * Cos(10o) - 1 ft or 15.25 ft. To find the side length of polygon 2, tangent can be used. Using
the 10 angle, one can find that tan(10) = side/16.5 * cos(10) - 1. In this case, the side
would be opposite the 10 angle and the apothem, which is 16.5 * cos(10) - 1, would be
adjacent to the 10 angle. Because this equation is solving for side, this result can be
multiplied by two to find the length of one side. One side is found to be 33 * cos(10) - 1 *
tan(10). When these values are plugged in to the area formula, A = * apothem * perimeter, the
area of polygon 2 is found to be 738.06 ft2.

Figure 6. Polygon 3
This figure shows a drawing of polygon 3. Polygon 3 was used as a base shape for the
inside of the walls of the tower. The inside of the walls are 1 foot away from the outside of the
walls (polygon 2).

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Figure 7. Area of Polygon 3


This figure shows the steps to finding the area of polygon 3. The apothem can be found
by subtracting 2 feet from the apothem of polygon 1. This is because each polygon is 1 foot
inward from the last. The apothem of polygon 3 is found to be 16.5 * cos(10) - 2 feet. The side
length is found using tangent. The central angle of 20 can be divided by two to find the angle of
one right triangle. Tangent (tan() = opposite / adjacent) is used because the adjacent side length
(the apothem) is known, and the opposite side length ( side) needs to be found. side is found
to be 16.5 * cos(10) - 2 * tan(10), and this can be multiplied by two to find that the length of
one side of polygon 3 is 33 * cos(10) - 4 * tan(10). The side length is multiplied by 18 to find
the perimeter. These values can be plugged into the area formula, A = * apothem * perimeter,
to find that the area of polygon 3 is approximately 644.44 square feet.

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Figure 8. Polygon 4
Figure 8 shows a drawing of polygon 4. Polygon 4 is used along with polygon 1 to build
the footing under the tower. It is also used as a reference as to where the Plexiglass floor is to be
built.

Figure 9. Area of Polygon 4

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Figure 9 shows the steps to finding the area of polygon 4. The apothem is found by
subtracting 3 feet from the apothem of polygon 1. This is because each polygon is 1 foot inward
from the last, so polygon 4 is 3 feet away from polygon 1. To find the area, the apothem and
perimeter need to be found. The length of one side, which is needed to find the perimeter, can be
found using tangent (opposite / adjacent). Using the tangent of 10, of the length of one side
can be found. Using this method, the length of side is 16.5 * cos(10) - 3 * tan(10) feet. This
length is multiplied by 2 to find that the length of one side is 33 * cos(10) - 6 * tan(10) feet.
The perimeter is found by multiplying the length of one side by 18. The apothem and perimeter
can be plugged into the area formula, A = * perimeter * apothem, to find that the area of
polygon 4 is 557.16 feet2.
Part 3 - Volume of the Concrete, Plexiglass, and Water
The footing of a building is an important part of keeping the building safe and sturdy. In
the case, the footing extends from polygon 1 to polygon 4 and is 3.5 feet deep. Because the
footing is a prism, its volume can be found by multiplying the area of the base and the height.

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Figure 10. Footing of the Tower


This figure shows a drawing of the towers footing. The footing is 3 feet wide, as it
extends from polygon 1 to polygon 4. It is made of concrete, and it is hollow in the center. The
footing is 3.5 feet deep.

Figure 11. Volume of the Footing


This figure shows how to find the volume of the footing. The footing is a prism, so its
volume can be found using the volume formula for a prism: V = A(base) * height. The footing

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extends from polygon 1 to polygon 4, so the area of its base can be found by subtracting the area
of polygon 4 from the area of polygon 1. When the areas are subtracted, it is found that the area
of the base of the footing is (4900.5 * sin(10) * cos(10)) - (297 * cos(10o) 54 * tan(10o) *16.5
* cos(10o) - 3) ft2, which is approximately equal to 280.68 square feet. The height of the footing,
which is 3.5 feet, is multiplied by the area of the base to find the volume. This gives the result
that the volume of the footing is (4900.5 * sin(10) * cos(10)) - (297 * cos(10) 54 * tan(10)
*16.5 * cos(10) - 3) * 3.5 ft3, or approximately 983.07 cubic feet.
To give the effect of walking on water, the millionaire wants the floor in the basement to
be made of Plexiglass. The Plexiglass will overlook the aquarium that is built into the basement
floor. The Plexiglass is to be 4 inches thick, and it corresponds with polygon 4.

Figure 12. Plexiglass Floor


This figure is a drawing of the Plexiglass floor needed to make the tower. The floor is an
18 sided prism, with polygon 4 acting as the base. The Plexiglass is 4 inches thick.

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Figure 13. Volume of the Plexiglass Floor


Figure 13 shows how to find the volume of the plexiglass needed for the floor. The height
of the floor is 4 inches, which is equal to foot. The area of polygon 4 was already found in
figure 9, so this area and can be plugged into the formula for volume of a prism, V = A(base) *
height. When this is solved, it is found that the volume of the Plexiglass needed for the floor is
(99 * cos(10) - 18) * tan(10) * (16.5 * cos(10) - 3) ft3, which is approximately equal to 185.72
cubic feet.
The water in the basement is the most important part of the tower. How else would the
millionaire feel like she is walking across the sea? In her tower, the water will fill 75% of the
space under the Plexiglass floor. The amount of water can be calculated by finding the volume of
the space under the floor, and taking 75% of that volume.

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Figure 14. The Aquarium
Figure 14 shows the aquarium under the basement floor. The aquarium is a prism, and its
base has the same dimensions as polygon 4. The aquarium is 3.5 feet deep, but only 75% of the
space is to be filled with water.

Figure 15. Volume of the Aquarium


This figure shows the volume of the water needed to fill the aquarium. The aquarium is a
prism under polygon 4, so the volume can be found using the formula V = A(base) * height. The
aquarium is only 75% filled with water, so the height of the aquarium was multiplied by 0.75, or
75%, to find the volume. The height of the footing is 3.5 feet, so the height of the water is found
to be 2.625 feet. When the area of polygon 4 is multiplied by the new height, the volume of the
water in the aquarium is approximately 1462.54 cubic feet.
Before the tower is built, the millionaire wants to know the cost of the materials used to
make the footing and the floor. The concrete for the footing is being sold for $115 per cubic yard.
Because the volume of the footing is already known in cubic feet, it can be converted to cubic
yards, then multiplied by $115 to find the total cost of the concrete for the footing. The
conversion can be seen in figure 18 below.

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Figure 16. Cost of Concrete


This figure shows the conversion of cubic feet to cubic yards, and the multiplication used
to find the cost of the concrete needed for the footing. The ratios 27 ft3:1 yd3 and 983.07
ft3:x yd3 were cross multiplied that the volume of the footing is approximately equal to 36.41
cubic yards. This was rounded up and multiplied by 115 dollars to find that the cost of the
concrete for the footing is $4255.
To find the cost of the Plexiglass used for the floor, the area of polygon 4 needs to be
divided by the area of the plexiglass. This will give the number of sheets needed to make the
floor. Each sheet of Plexiglass is 48 x 96 x 4, and each sheet costs $1100. The dimensions of
the Plexiglass sheets first have to be converted into square feet, then the cost can be found.

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Figure 17. Cost of Plexiglass


To determine the cost of the plexiglass, the dimensions were converted to feet to match
the dimensions of polygon 4. The 4 inch thickness was not converted because the floor is already
4 inches thick. The dimensions of each sheet of Plexiglass are 4 feet by 8 feet by 4 inches. This
means that the area of one face of the Plexiglass is 32 square feet. The area of polygon 4 was
divided by the area of the Plexiglass to find the number of sheets needed. Approximately 17.41
sheets were needed to cover the whole area, but the company does not sell fractions of sheets.
The 17.41 sheets was rounded up to 18 sheets. When the 18 sheets are multiplied by $1100, the
cost of the Plexiglass needed for the floor is found to be $19800.
Part 4 - One Lateral Face of the Outer Prism Base

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Figure 18. Polygon 2


This figure shows polygon 2 with one side length labeled. The length of one side of this
18-gon is (33 * cos(10) - 2) * tan(10) feet.

Figure 19. Outer Face of the Tower with a Door


This figure shows a lateral face of the outside of the tower. Because the height of the
tower is twice as long as one side of polygon 2, the height of the tower is (66 * cos(10) - 4) *
tan(10) feet. This face includes the door, which has dimensions of 5 feet and 3 feet, so its area is
15 square feet. The window above the door is half of a regular 18-gon, where the length from
vertex to vertex is three feet. The steps to finding the area of this face can be seen below.

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Figure 20. Area of Lateral Face


This figure shows how to find the area of one lateral face. The base is one side length of
polygon 2, and the height is 2 * the side length of polygon 2.

Figure 21. Outer Face of the Tower with a Window


This figure shows a drawing of one face that contains a window. The window has the
same number of sides as the tower, so this window has 18 sides. The length from vertex to vertex
is 3 feet, because it has the same length as the base of the door.

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Figure 22. Area of Window


The area of one one regular window can be found by multiplying the area of one triangle
by 18. The base of the triangle, or side of the polygon, can be found using sine. The height of
the triangle, or the apothem of the polygon, can be found using tangent. The area can be found
using the formula A = base * height, and that can be multiplied by 18 to get the total area of
one window. The length from vertex to vertex is 3 feet. This is because the window has the same
width as the door, which was given. The area is found to be approximately 6.93 square feet.

Figure 23. Area of Window Above the Door


The window above the door is half the size of the normal windows. It has the same side
lengths as the normal windows. This means that its area can be found by multiplying the area of
one triangle by 9 instead of 18. The area is found to be approximately 3.46 square feet.

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Figure 24. Lateral Surface Area of the Prism


This figure shows how to find the lateral surface area of the outer walls of the tower. The
area is found by taking the area of one side, multiplying it by 18, and subtracting the areas of the
door and windows. The area of one normal window was multiplied by 2, because there are two
windows on the tower. The lateral surface area of the tower is approximately 1019.53 square
feet.
Part 5 - Volume of the Inner Base Prism

Figure 25. Polygon 3


This figure shows a drawing of polygon 3. This polygon was used as the base for the
inside walls of the tower. The side length of this 18-gon is (33 * cos(10) - 4) * tan(10) feet.

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Figure 26. Lateral Face of Inner Prism


This figure shows one lateral face of the inner prism of the tower. The base of each face is
(33 * cos(10) - 4) * tan(10) feet, and the height of the prism is (66 * cos(10) - 4) * tan(10) feet.
The height of each face is found by multiplying the side length of polygon 2, or the outer tower,
by 2.

Figure 27. Volume of the Inner Prism


This figure shows the volume of the inside of the prism. The area of the base, which is
polygon 3, and the height of the prism can be plugged into the formula V = A(base) * height. The
area of polygon 3 is (297 * cos(10o) 36) * tan(10o) *16.5 * cos(10o) - 2) square feet and the
height of the prism is (66 *cos(10) -4) * tan(10) feet, so the volume of the prism is about
6931.22 cubic feet.

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Part 6 - Height and Slant Height of the Outer Pyramid

Figure 28. Outer Pyramid of the Tower


This figure shows the outer pyramid of the roof of the tower. The 18 sided pyramid
makes up the roof of the tower. Its height is 3 times the side length of polygon 2, so the height is
(99 * cos(10) - 6) * tan(10) feet, or approximately 16.13 feet. The slant height can be found
using the Pythagorean theorem, as seen below.

Figure 29. Slant Height of the Outer Pyramid


The figure above shows how to use the pythagorean theorem to find the slant height. In
this case, a represents the apothem of polygon 2, b represents the height of the pyramid, and
c represents the slant height. The slant height is found to be the square root of
(16.5 * cos(10) - 1)2+ ((99 * cos(10) - 6) * tan(10))2, or approximately 22.20 feet.

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Figure 30. Angle of Roof


Figure 30, above, shows how to find the angle of the roof to the walls using the inverse of
tangent. The inverse can be taken of the height of the pyramid over the slant height of the
pyramid. When the inverse is taken, it is found that the angle of the roof to the tower is
approximately 46.61.
Part 7 - One Lateral Face of the Outer Pyramid

Figure 31. One Lateral Face of the Outer Pyramid

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This figure shows the drawing of a face of the outer pyramid, or the outer roof of the
tower. The face is an isosceles triangle with the height rt(16.5 * cos(10) - 1)2+ ((99 * cos(10) 6) * tan(10))2 feet, and a base that is (33 * cos(10) - 2) * tan(10) feet. The triangle can be split
into two right triangles, and the tangent function can be used to find the angles of these triangles.

Figure 32. Base Angle of One Lateral Face of the Outer Pyramid
This figure shows how to use tangent to find the base angle of the isosceles triangle that
is one face. In this figure, is representing the base angle. The slant height of the pyramid is
used as the opposite side from the angle, and of the base is used as the adjacent side to the
angle. The base angle was found to be approximately 83.09. Because the face is an isosceles
triangle, both base angles are the same.

Figure 33. Top Angle of One Lateral Face of the Outer Pyramid
The top angle of the triangle can be found using tangent. To do this, of the angle has to
be found, then it can be multiplied by 2. In this figure, of the angle is represented by , and the
angle is represented by x. The tangent function can be used to solve for of the angle, using
of the base as the opposite side and the height of the triangle as the adjacent side. When the angle

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found is multiplied by 2, the full top angle of the face is found to be 13.81. This can be checked
by adding together this angle and the two base angles together and making sure they equal 180.

Figure 34. Area of One Lateral Face of the Outer Pyramid


The area of one lateral face can be found using the formula A = * base * height. The
base of the triangle is one side length of polygon 2, or (33 * cos(10) - 2) * tan(10) feet. The
height of the triangle is the slant height of the outer pyramid, which is
rt(16.5 * cos(10) - 1)2+((99 * cos(10) - 6) *tan(10))2 feet. These values can be plugged into the
area formula to find that the area of one face is approximately 59.69 square feet.

Figure 35. Lateral Surface Area of the Outer Pyramid


The lateral surface area of the pyramid can be found by multiplying the area of one face
by 18. The area of one face, or ((16.5 * cos(10) - 1) * tan(10)) * rt(16.5 * cos(10) - 1)2+((99 *
cos(10) - 6) * tan(10))2 square feet, was multiplied by 18 to find that the lateral surface area is
approximately equal to 1074.45 square feet.
Part 8 - Volume of the Inner Pyramid

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Figure 36. Inner Pyramid of the Roof


This figure shows the inner pyramid in the roof. The base shape of the inner pyramid is
polygon 3, which is also the base of the inner tower. The height of the pyramid is 3 times the
length of polygon 3. Because the side length of polygon 3 is (33 * cos(10) - 4) * tan(10) feet,
the height of the pyramid is (99 * cos(10) - 12) * tan(10) feet.

Figure 37. Volume of the Inner Pyramid


The inner pyramid is built on polygon 3, so the area used to find the volume is the area of
polygon 3. The area of polygon 3 and the height of the pyramid, which can be seen in figure 38,
can be plugged into the formula for volume of a pyramid, V = * A(base) * height. When the
formula is used, the volume of the inner pyramid is found to be approximately 3238.35 cubic
feet.
Part 9 - The Tower

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Figure 38. The 18 Sided Tower on a 39 x 39 Plot


This figure shows the tower with the correct number of sides built on a 39 by 39 square
foot plot. The total height of the tower is 5 times the side length of polygon 2, which is about
26.89 feet.

Figure 39. Lateral Surface Area of the Tower


The lateral surface area of the entire tower can be found by adding the lateral surface area
of the prism to the lateral surface area of the pyramid. The lateral surface area of the prism was
found in figure 24, which is in Part 4. The lateral surface area of the pyramid was found in figure

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35, which is in Part 7. When these two areas are added together, the total surface area is found to
be approximately 2093.98 square feet.

Figure 40. Volume of the Tower


The two volumes found previously, the volume of the prism and the volume of the
pyramid, can be added together to find the total volume of the inner tower. The volume of the
prism, which was found in figure 27, is about 6931.22 cubic feet. The volume of the pyramid,
which was found in figure 37, is approximately 3238.35 cubic feet. This means that the total
volume of the tower is 10169.56 cubic feet.
Part 10 - Conclusion
The tower project required a lot of time management and concentration on the math and
the model. By double checking the work again and again, we were able to come up with the
answers to all of the math involved in the project. With the help of teamwork and lots of glue
dots, the tower model was constructed in just one weekend. The only major roadblock we hit was
confusion over subtracting 1 foot from the length from the center to a vertex instead of the
apothem to find the areas of polygons 2, 3, and 4 (Part 2). The tower project will definitely be
one that sticks with us in high school and beyond, and we believe that the millionaire will be
satisfied by her new tower!

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