Out of a circular piece of paper, you wish to form a cone cup, so you cut out a circle wedge (with its extreme at the circle center) and join the resulting straight sides, forming a conical cup.

What size should the wedge be, to maximize the capacity of the cone?

Of course as a practical matter, you should cut a wedge smaller that that which is calculated, so you have some overlap on which to add glue to hold the cup together at the maximum volume.

Posted by Charlie on 2005-04-01 19:28:23