Math Puzzle for August 23, 2024

Manifest Destiny and colonialism versus spheres of influence

Four perfectly spherical croquet balls are stacked as shown.
Three croquet balls are supporting the fourth ball.
All four balls are congruent; each has a volume of 21 cubic inches.
The four balls will be placed within a containment sphere.
The containment sphere is of negligible thickness.

Find the volume V of the smallest possible containment sphere.

First correct answer arriving at JeffreyRSmith@aol.com wins a gift card worth lots of ice cream at Tucker’s Ice Cream of Alameda.

Last week’s winner was Paul Engstrom with A = 2π ² units.

Jeff Smith is a former Math teacher and a retired US Navy Lieutenant Commander. Reach him at JeffreyRSmith@aol.com .

The post Math Puzzle for August 23, 2024 appeared first on Alameda Post .