SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation

Wine Glass Investigation

Introduction:
Mathematical understanding can be applied to design and model objects that exist in real life. In this investigation, a
knowledge of integral calculus, functions and their inverses, and graphs will be utilized in order to find the volume of
a wineglass bowl, and the volume of a complex object. The online graphing calculator Desmos will be utilised to
visually model the functions to qualitatively identify the outline of the solid, and integral calculus will be used to find
the specific volume of the solid.
Part 1 of this investigation considers finding the volume of a wineglass through two sections. The first section
estimates the volume of the wineglass through creating a single function that roughly models the edge of the
wineglass’s bowl, which can be rotated along the x or y axis to find the volume of revolution. The next section will
aim to determine an accurate calculation of the volume through mapping the outline of the wineglass precisely with
potentially multiple functions. The outline will be drawn physically by tracing the wineglass whilst taking into
account the thickness of the glass. Part 2 of this investigation explores finding the volume of a complex object, where
the outline of the shape will be modelled by multiple functions. The outline of the complex shape will be physically
sketched, where the thickness of the glass will be taken into account. The reasonableness and limitations of using
integral calculus to find the volume will be discussed after each section.

Part 1A:
The aim of Part 1A is to model the curve of the wineglass utilising function
knowledge. Since this section only requires a rough estimate of the curve, the
function will only be overlayed on the photo of the wineglass, rather than the
traced outline of the wineglass, which will be discussed in the next section.
Through repeated attempts at finding the optimal function, the function
f ( x )=ln x 2 for { x >0 } (the green curve in Error: Reference source not found)
was decided upon. However, the function should be inversed so that it can
more accurately model the vertical curve of the wineglass. As f ( x ) for { x ≥ 0 }
is one-to-one an inverse function exists and thus by variable interchange, the
inverse function to f ( x )=ln x 2 for { x ≥ 0 } can be algebraically determined.

Figure 1: The function in green and its

inverse in purple (Desmos, 2022)

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation

Figure 2: The function of mapped to the

wineglass with restricted range of (Desmos,
2022)

f is y=ln x { x> 0 }∴ f is x =ln y { y >0 }e x = y 2∴ √ e x = y { as y >0 }

2 −1 2

∴f
−1
( x )=√ e x

The new inverse function: f −1 ( x )= √ e x which is the purple curve in Figure 1, has more of a “wineglass” curve to it as
it bends vertically upward, rather than extend forward like the function of f ( x )=ln x 2 . The function is then mapped to
the wineglass under a restricted range of 2.7 cm ≤ y ≤ 11.7 cm since the base and mouth of the wineglass are at those
coordinates respectively, which is shown in Error: Reference source not found through the use of the overlay feature
in Desmos.
Now, since the wineglass is positioned along the y -axis, the function will need to be rotated about the y -axis where
the volume of revolution is given by;
b
V =π ∫ x dy
2

The upper and lower y bounds are y=11.7 cm and y=2.7cm respectively as the bowl of the wineglass is 9cm deep,
and they indicate the position of the base and mouth of the wineglass. Moreover, f −1 ( x ) can be rewritten as; x=ln y 2
as shown in the previous green box.

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation

{
2 '
u=( ln y ) v =1
V =π ∫ ( ln y ) dy ¿ π ∫ ( 2 ln y ) dy ¿ 4 π ∫ ( ln y ) dy '
2 2 2 2
1
u =2 ln y × v = y
y

{
'

[ )]
u=ln y v =1
∴=4 π [ y ( ln y ) −∫ 2 ln y dy ] ' 1
2

u = v= y
y
2 1
y (
∴=4 π y ( ln y ) −2 y ln y−∫ y × dy

∴=4 π [ y ( ln y ) −2 ( y ln y− y ) ]+ c
2

| |
11.7 11.7
2 2
Now :V =π ∫ ( ln y 2 ) dy∴=4 π y ( ln y ) −2 ( y ln y− y )
2.7 2.7

¿ 4 π {11.7 × ( ln 11.7 )2−2.7 × ( ln 2.7 )2−2 [ ( 11.7 × ln 11.7−2.7 × ln 2.7 )−( 11.7−2.7 ) ] }≈ 426.321 mL

Assumptions and Limitations:

Through this initial approach of modelling the curve, the volume of revolution after being rotated about the y -axis is
around 426.32 mL , as the units of the coordinates were in centimetres, and a cubic centimetre is equal to one
millilitre. The measurement seems reasonable as a wineglass could potentially be able to contain such a volume.
Assuming that there is minimal parallax error with the image, the graph of f −1 ( x )= √e x models the bottom-half of the
wineglass accurately. However, the function has limited accuracy since it fails to model the inwards curvature of the
wineglass at the top, where the function curves away from the glass as shown in Error: Reference source not found.
Moreover, the thickness of the glass is not accounted for, as the function only maps the outline of the wineglass, and it
would be too challenging to accurately determine the thickness of the glass digitally. Considering these limitations, a
more refined model and approach to finding the curve will be used to calculate the volume of the wineglass.

Part 1B:
Part 1B will now improve upon the previous method of finding a function which accurately models the curve of the
wineglass. To achieve this, a physical outline of the wineglass will be traced, rather than digitally outlined where
many variables could affect the accuracy of the outline. However, the wineglass was not able to be accurately traced
since it lay on an angle due to the difference between the size of the base and the widest part of the wineglass. Solving
this issue required the base of the wineglass to be padded with Styrofoam so that the central axis of wineglass can lie
level along with the table as shown.
Given that the widest part of the wineglass is 81.4 mm in diameter and the base is 68 .7 mm in diameter, the required
81.4−68.7
padding thickness is =6.35 mm thick. This added onto the base equals a length of 75.05 mm, which
2
was very closely achieved at 75.09 mm as shown in Error: Reference source not found.

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation

Figure 3: The lengths of various proportions of the wineglass

Moreover, as the thickness of the glass cannot be accounted
for when digitally tracing the wineglass, it is important that
the physical sketch does account for it. Thus, a drawing
apparatus as shown in Error: Reference source not found was
designed to only sketch the inside of the wineglass. As the
thickness of the glass was measured to be 1.3 mm thick, the
drawing apparatus is well suited to accurately sketch the
curve of the wineglass. The traced curve is shown in Error:
Reference source not found.
After tracing the outline of the wineglass, an observation was
Figure 4: Drawing apparatus and tracing the outline
made that the curve looked like the arc of a section of a
circle. To make future calculations easier to carry out and understand, the x and y axis were swapped, as
shown in Error: Reference source not found. Through
digitally determining the centre of the circle, the
coordinates of the centre were found to be ( 37.9 ,−57.5 )
and thus the radius of the circle was 97.6 mm long.
Initially, the circle was intended to be represented by the
general equation:

( x−a )2+ ( y−b )2=r 2

However, complications arose when performing integration
to find the volume of revolution as shown below.

Figure 5: The traced outline of the wineglass where the tip and en

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation

( x−a )2+ ( y−b )2=r 2( y−b )2=r 2 −( x−a )2 y−b= √r 2 −( x −a )2 { as y >0 }∴ y=√ r 2−( x−a )2+ b
x2 x2 x2

Now :V =π ∫ y dx¿ π ∫ ( √ r −( x−a ) + b ) dx¿ π ∫ [ r 2−( x−a )2+ 2b √ r 2− ( x−a )2 +b2 ] dx

2 2 2 2

x1 x1 x1

√
Since 2 b r 2−( x−a )2 cannot be integrated by parts or by substitution, the general equation:
( x−a )2+ ( y−b )2=r 2 cannot be used to for the general equation of the circle.

Since the general equation ( x−a )2+ ( y−b )2=r 2 could not be integrated, an alternative trigonometric approach was utilised.

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation

{
x=a+ r cos θ 2 2
Let fsdf ( 1 )∧ ( x −a ) + ( y−b ) =r 2 ( 2 )
y =b+r sin θ

( 1 ) substituted into (2 ) : LHS=( a+r cos θ−a )2 + ( b+r sin θ−b )2¿ ( r cos θ )2 + ( r sin θ )2¿ r 2 cos2 θ+r 2 sin2 θ
¿ r ( cos θ+sin θ )¿ r 2=RHS ∴The substitution is valid
2 2 2

{ }
x2 cosθ2 cos θ 2
d ( a+r cos θ )=d ( cos θ )
Now :V =π ∫ y 2 dx¿ π ∫ ¿¿ ¿ ¿ πr ∫ ( b2 +2 br sin θ+ r2 sin 2 θ ) d ( cos θ ) as a , b ,∧r a ℜ constants
x1 cosθ1 cos θ 1

[∫ ] | |
cos θ2 cos θ 2 cos θ2 cosθ 2
cos θ2
¿ πr
2
b d ( cos θ ) +2 br ∫ sin θ d ( cos θ ) +r
2
∫ sin θ d ( cos θ ) ( 1 ) :
2
∫ b2 d ( cos θ )= b 2 cos θ
cos θ1 cos θ 1 cos θ1 cosθ 1 cos θ1

| |
cos θ2 θ2 θ2 θ2

( 1 1
) 1 θ2
( 2 ) :2br ∫ sin θ d ( cos θ ) =2br ∫ −sin 2 θ dθ=2 br ∫ − − cos 2θ dθ=br ∫ (cos 2 θ−1) dθ=br sin 2θ−θ
2 2 2
cos θ1 θ1 θ1 θ 1 θ1

| |
cosθ2 cosθ2
2 1 cos θ 2
( 3 ) :r 2
∫ 2
sin θ d ( cos θ )=r
2
∫ ( 1−cos 2 θ ) d ( cos θ )=r 3
cos θ− cos θ
3
cosθ1 cosθ1 cos θ 1

[| | | 1 1
| | | ]
cos θ2 θ cos θ2
∴ V =πr b2 cos θ sin 2θ−θ +r 2 cos θ− cos 3 θ
2
+ br ¿ πr ¿
cos θ1
2 θ
3 cos θ1
1

Given that : {¿ b=−57.5 {¿ x =99

a=37.9 r=97.6 x =9 1

{
x 1−a 9−37.9
x=a+r cos θ = cos θ 1=
≈−0.296

{
r 97.6 θ =cos−1 (−0.296 ) ≈ 1.871
x−a → sf → 1
¿ ∴ cos θ= −1
¿ θ2=cos ( 0.626 ) ≈ 0.894
r x 2−a 99−37.9
cos θ 2= = ≈ 0.626
r 97.6

{ [
2
97.6 ( 1
Thus :V =π ( 97.6 ) [ (−57.5 ) +97.62 ] ( 0.626+0.296 )− 0.626 3+ 0.2963 ) + (−57.5 ) ( 97.6 ) ( sin ( 2 ×0.894 )−sin ( 2
2

3 2
3
≈ 356,140 mm ≈ 356.140mL

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation
Through a refined approach to modelling the volume of the wineglass, the calculated
volume was 356.1 mL as shown above, which is around a 70 mL difference
compared to the initial calculation. To determine the accuracy of the calculation, the
weight of the water inside the wineglass was measured to find the volume of the
water. Since 1 c m3 or 1 mL of water is 1g heavy, measuring the weight of the water
that’s inside the wineglass is an accurate method of determining the volume of the
wineglass. Using this method, the volume was the wineglass was determined to be
340 g as shown in Error: Reference source not found. This means that there was only
356.140−340
a 5% (given by: × 100 ≈ 5 %) error in accuracy using the refined
340
426.321−340
method, in contrast to the 25% (given by: ×100 ≈ 25 %) from the
340
initial method, which signifies a successful refinement of the wineglass model .

Assumptions and Limitations:

When measuring the base and the widest part of the wineglass, as well as the
thickness of the glass with a calliper, it was assumed that the calliper is very
accurate since there was no way of verifying this. Since the wineglass was traced
physically, it was required to be digitally scanned so an assumption was mad that Figure 6: Wineglass’s volume
there would be no major distortion when it was converted into a digital image.
Moreover, the thickness of the glass was also assumed to be uniformly thick since there is no way to verify this,
though through visual observation, this assumption appears to be reasonable.
Additionally, human error such as a shaky hand when tracing the wineglass may have
caused the outline to be inaccurately traced. The above limitations may have caused the
5% error in accuracy using the refined method.

Part 2A:
The aim in Part 2A is to calculate the volume of the apple cider bottle as shown in
Figure 1 by modelling its outline using multiple polynomials, since it is a complex
shape with more curves. Since Part 1B used the arcs of circles to model the
wineglass curve, a similar approach will be applied where the arcs of circles
would model the various curves of the cider bottle. The outline of the wineglass
will also be physically traced, rather than digitally traced based off an image,
where many variables could affect the accuracy of the outline. Since the cider bottle
lay parallel to the table by itself, there was no need for additional padding, like
the Styrofoam which was needed for the wineglass. The thickness of the bottle’sFigure
glass1:was
Cider bottle
measured to be
3.5 mm thick, so a similar drawing apparatus
to the one shown in Error: Reference source
not found was created, where the lead is offset
3.5 mm away from the ruler, rather than
1.29 mm.
After the outline of the cider bottle was traced
and digitally scanned as shown in Error:
Reference source not found, it could be seen
that the outline was composed of two curves
and two straight lines. The two curves could be
modelled by four circles, where their centres,
radii and intersecting points are shown in
Error: Reference source not found. As the
calculations in Part 1 proved that the general
equation for circles;
( x−a )2+ ( y−b )2=r 2

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Figure 8: The outline of the cider bottle, mapped by four circles
and two lines.
SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation
could not be integrated in parts or through substitution, the same trigonometric approach will be used to find the
volume of revolution.

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation

{ | |
40
x1 =6 40
∴ V 1=π ∫ 10 dx=π 100 x =π [ ( 100 ×40−100 ×6 ) ] ≈ 10,681 mm ≈ 10.681 mL
2 3
l 1 : y =10
¿ x 2=40 6 6

{
x 1−a 40−43
cos θ1 = = ≈−0.0286
r 105
c 1 : r=105
{¿a=43 { x =40
b=115 ¿ x =90
2

3
sf
x 2−a 90−43
cos θ2 = = ≈ 0.448
r 105

{
−1
∴ θ1 =cos (−1
−0.0286 ) ≈−1.599 ¿
¿ θ2=cos ( 0.448 ) ≈−1.107

{ [
2
105
Thus :V 2=π ( 105 ) [ ( 115 ) +105 ] ( 0.448+0.0286 )−
2 2
( 0.4483 +0.02863 ) + ( 115 )( 105 ) 1 ( sin ( 2 × (−1.107 ) )−sin ( 2 ×
3 2
3
≈ 29,928 mm ≈ 29.928 mL

{
x 1−a 90−135
= cos θ3=
≈−0.409
r 110
c 2 : r=110
{
a=135 x 3=90
¿ b=−79 ¿ x 4=140 { sf
x 2−a 140−135
cos θ 4 = = ≈ 0.0455
r 110

{
−1
∴ θ3=cos −1(−0.409 ) ≈ 1.992 ¿
¿ θ 4=cos ( 0.0455 ) ≈ 1.525

3
{
Thus :V 3=π ( 110 ) [ (−79 ) +110 ] ( 0.0455+0.409 )−
2 2 110 2 (
3
3 3 1
2 [
0.0455 +0.409 ) + (−79 ) ( 110 ) ( sin ( 2 × ( 1.525 ) ) −sin ( 2×

≈ 125,856 mm ≈ 125.8 56 mL

y− y 4 y 5− y 4 y−30.8 28.4−30.8 −3
l 2 :The equation of l 2 is givenby : = = y−30.8= ( x−140 )
x−x 4 x 5−x 4 x−140 220−140 100
−3 −3
y= x + 4.2+ 30.8∴ y= x+ 35
100 100

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation

{ [( ) ( ) ]
220

( )
2 220
x 4=140 ∴ V =π −3 −3 2 −3
4 ∫ x +35 dx¿ π ∫ x +2
2
x ( 35 )+35 dx
¿ x5 =220 140 100 140 100 100

[ ] | () () |
220
9 9 1 3 1 2 220
¿π∫ x −2.1 x+ 1225 dx ¿ π x −2.1 x +1225 x
2

140 10000 10000 3 2 140

| 3
|
220
3 2
¿π x −1.05 x +1225 x 3
≈ 220,324 m m ≈ 220.324 mL
10000 140

{
x 1−a 220−221
cos θ5 = = ≈−0.0298
r 33.6
c 3 :r=33.6 a=221 5 {
x =220
¿ b=62 ¿ x6 =230 { sf
x −a 230−221
cos θ6 = 2 = ≈ 0.268
r 33.6

{
−1
θ5 =cos (−0.0298 ) ≈−1.601
∴ −1
¿
¿θ 6=cos ( 0.268 ) ≈−1.300

{ [
2
33.6 ( 1
Thus : V 5=π ( 33.6 ) ( 62 +33.6 ) ( 0.268+ 0.0298 )− 0.268 + 0.0298 ) + ( 62 )( 33.6 ) ( sin ( 2× (−1.300 ) )−sin ( 2 ×
2 2 3 3
3 2
3
≈ 26,001 mm ≈2 6 . 001 m L

{
x 1−a 230−243.5
= cos θ7 =
≈−0.314
r 43
{
c 4 :r =43 a=243.5 x 7=230
¿ b=−11 ¿ x 8 =252 { sf
x 2−a 252−243.5
cos θ8 = = ≈ 0.198
r 43

∴
{
θ7 =cos−1 (−0.314 ) ≈ 1.890
−1
¿ θ8 =cos ( 0.198 ) ≈ 1.372
¿

{
Thus :V 6=π ( 43 ) [ (−11 ) +432 ] ( 0.198+0.314 )−
2 432
3 [
( 0.1983 +0.3143 ) + (−11 )( 43 ) 1 ( sin ( 2× ( 1.372 ) )−sin ( 2 ×1.890 )
2
≈ 68,388 mm3 ≈ 68.388 mL

Therefore, the total volume of the cider bottle is the sum of all the previous volume of revolutions.

∴ V total=V 1 +V 2 +V 3 +V 4 +V 5 +V 6 ≈ 10.681+22.928+125.856+220.324+ 26.001+ 68.388

≈ 481.178 mL

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation
Finding the volume of a cider bottle using the arcs of circles and straight lines to draw the outline of the cider bottle
gave the calculated volume of 481.178 mL . Measuring the weight of the water inside of
the cider bottle revealed that the true volume of the bottle was 516 mL as shown in Error:
Reference source not foundFinding the volume of a cider bottle using the arcs of circles
and straight lines to draw the outline of the cider bottle gave the calculated volume of .
Measuring the weight of the water inside of the cider bottle revealed that the true volume
of the bottle was as shown in Error: Reference source not foundFinding the volume of a
cider bottle using the arcs of circles and straight lines to draw the outline of the cider
bottle gave the calculated volume of . Measuring the weight of the water inside of the
cider bottle revealed that the true volume of the bottle was as shown in Figure 9, which is
a 6.7% error (given by ). , which is a 6.7% error (given by ). , which is a 6.7% error
516−481.178
(given by ×100 ≈ 6.7 % ).
481.178

Assumptions and Limitations:

As the bottle was traced physically and needed to be scanned, it was assumed that the
scanned image would have minimal distortion Moreover, by using circles to model curves Figure 9: The true volume of the bottle
of the cider bottle, it was assumed that the circles were able to accurately model the curves of the bottle, when oblong
oval shapes may have modelled the cider bottle more accurately. Since, the coordinates given for the centres of the
circles and overlapping points were measured by hand, where the thickness of the traced outline limited the accuracy
of the chosen coordinates, making it hard to assign decimal places. Like the wineglass, the thickness of the glass in
unknown and was assumed to be uniformly thick. This assumption inherently limits the accuracy of the results as the
traced outline would not be able to accurately model the inside of the bottle if the glass is not uniformly thick. The
next section will aim to improve and refine the previous problems encountered through a more refined method.

Part 2B:
Part 2B will improve upon the previous method of finding functions that accurately fit the outline trace of the apple
cider bottle. This time, GeoGebra will be used to assist with finding various functions which can accurately model
specific sections of the outline, which can then be linked together to create an outline of the cider bottle. These
specific sections will be revolved around the x -axis to find a section of the whole volume, before being added together
to find the total volume.
The outline was split up into six sections
denoted by the different colours as shown in
Error: Reference source not found, where
GeoGebra’s equation creator is used to create
an equation that covers each section. This
equation will then be used in the volume of
revolution formula to find the volume of that
specific section. The six sections and what Figure 10: The cider bottle outline mapped in GeoGebra (GeoGebra, 2022)
points they include are presented shown in
.

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation

{ | |
40
( 1 ) : y=10 x 1=6 ∴ V 1=π ∫ 102 dx =π 100 x
40
=π [ ( 100 × 40−100 ×6 ) ] ≈ 10,681 mm ≈ 10.681 mL
3

¿ x 2=40 6 6

{
( 2 ) : y=( 4.15× 10−5 ) x 3−( 2.08 ×103 ) x 2−0.0486 x +12.6 x2 =40
¿ x 3=88

88
2
∴ V 2=π ∫ [ ( 4.15 ×10−5 ) x 3−0.00308 x 2−0.0486 x +12.6 ] dx
40
88
¿ π ∫ [ ( 1.72× 10 ) x −( 1.70 ×10 ) x + ( 2.73 ×10 ) x + ( 1.25 ×10 ) x −0.0499 x −1.22 x +158 ] dx
−9 6 −7 5 −7 4 −3 3 2

40
3
≈ 26,871 mm ≈26.871 mL

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation

( 3 ) : y=−( 1.68 × 10−10 ) x 6 + ( 1.30 × 10−7 ) x5 −( 4.07 × 105 ) x 4+ 0.00669 x 3−0.613 x 2 +30.4 x−630

∴
{ x3 =88
¿ x 4 =161

161
2
∴ V 3=π ∫ [−( 1.68 × 10−10 ) x 6 + ( 1.30 ×10−7 ) x5 −( 4.07 × 105 ) x 4 + 0.00669 x 3−0.613 x 2 +30.4 x−630 ] dx
88
161
¿ π ∫ [ ( 2.84 × 10 ) x12−( 4.37 ×10−17 ) x 11+ ( 3.06 ×10−14 ) x 10−( 1.28 ×10−11) x 9 + ( 3.60 ×10−9 ) x 8−( 7.14 ×10−7 ) x 7 + ( 1
−20

88
3
≈ 191,630 mm ≈191.630 mL

( 4 ) : y=( 2.56 ×10−4 ) x 2−0.123 x+ 43.5 x 4=161

¿ x 5=212 {
212
2
∴ V 4=π ∫ [ ( 2.56 ×10 ) x −0.123 x+ 43.5 ] dx
−4 2

161
212
¿ π ∫ [ ( 6.55 ×10 ) x −( 6.30 × 10 ) x +0.0374 x −10.7 x +1890 ] dx ≈ 139,202 mm3 ≈ 139.202 mL
−8 4 −5 3 2

161

( 5 ) : y=0.00874 x 2−3.83 x +448 x 5=212

¿ x6 =232 {
232 232
∴ V 5=π ∫ ( 0.00874 x −3.83 x +448 ) dx¿ π ∫ ( 7.64 x −0.0670 x +22.5 x −3440 x+ 201000 ) dx
2 2 4 3 2

212 212
3
≈ 52,790 mm ≈ 52.790mL

( 6 ) : y=−0.0137 x2 +6.69 x−784 x 6=232

¿ x 7=252 {
252 252
∴ V 6=π ∫ (−0.0137 x +6.69 x−784 ) dx¿ π ∫ [ ( 1.88 ×10 ) x −0.184 x + 66.3 x −10500 x+ 614000 ] dx
2 2
−4 4 3 2

232 232
3
≈ 62061 mm ≈ 62.061mL

Therefore, the total volume of the cider bottle is the sum of all the previous volume of revolutions.
∴ V total =V 1 +V 2 +V 3 +V 4 +V 5 +V 6 ≈ 10.681+26.871+191.630+139.202+ 52.790+ 62.061
≈ 483.175 mL

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation
Finding the volume of the cider bottle using polynomials created by GeoGebra to draw the outline of the cider bottle
gave the calculated volume of 481.178 mL . As the true volume of the bottle is known to be 516 mL as shown in
516−483.175
Error: Reference source not found, this means there is a 6.4% error (given by ×100 ≈ 6.4 %), which
483.175
means this method was able to calculate the volume of the bottle closer than arcs of circles method. This precision
may have occurred because the outline was traced digitally, where the intersecting points could be accurately selected,
and thickness of the traced outline had less impact on how accurately the coordinates could be selected.

Assumptions and Limitations:

A variable which may have limited the accuracy of the result was the shape of the bottle. Through this whole
experiment, it was assumed that the bottle is perfectly round, however, faults in manufacturing may cause the cider
bottle not to be perfectly round, and the thickness not be uniform in every region. Therefore, it would be expected that
the calculated volume is lower than the true volume, which is the case here. Additionally, when uploading the photo
into GeoGebra, the uploaded photo is assumed to not have been distorted by the GeoGebra software. If it was
distorted, the raced outline which was rotated to find the volume would not be accurate, which results in an inaccurate
calculated volume.

Conclusion:
The volumes of specific shapes were successfully modelled using integral calculus. In Part 1, a wineglass was
modelled using the function y= √ e x which somewhat accurately traced the outline of the wineglass that was rotated
around the y -axis to give the volume of 426.32 mL . Since the function did not model the inward curve of the
wineglass at the top, the arc of a circle was used to model it, since the circles arc does curve at the top. To guarantee a
more accurate result, the wineglass was physically traced rather than digitally traced using a drawing apparatus that
aimed to sketch the inside of the wineglass. Integrating this new traced curve with the volume of revolution formula
gave 356.140 mL, which was closer to the true volume of the wineglass at 340 mL, meaning the process of finding
the volume of a wineglass was successfully refined.
In Part 2, an apple cider bottle was physically traced and initially modelled with four arcs of circles and two lines.
Each of the arcs and lines would be their own section which would be revolved around the x -axis, where the sum of
these sections is the total volume of the bottle. Adding these sections together gave a volume of 481.178 mL , which
was close to the true volume of bottle at 516 mL. The next method used technology and the graphing application
GeoGebra to create formulas that mapped various sections of the cider bottle. The bottle was divided into six sections,
separate by a point of inflection or a straight line. This method gave the volume of 483.175 mL , which was closer to
the true volume than the first method, meaning the process of finding the volume of an apple cider bottle was
successfully refined.
Overall, this experiment proved the commonness of circles in manufacturing, where both a wineglass and apple cider
bottle had circles contribute to its shape. The refinement of calculation methods was also present in both Part 1 and 2.
If this experiment was done again, a main area of improvement is finding the true thickness of the glass. The thickness
of the glass was underestimated in Part 1, as both calculated volumes were greater than the true volume. On the other
hand, the thickness of the glass was overestimated in Part 2, since both calculated volumes were lower than the true
volume. This could be solved with the use of better equipment instead of basic rulers and callipers or breaking the
glass to identify the thickness of the broken shards to identify the thickness of the glass in the different areas of the
object.

Assumptions
- Math grid is accurate
- Calliper is accurate
- Scale is accurate
- Bottle is round
- Glass is uniformly thick
- The scan of the traced outline is 1 to 1 without being skewed
Limitations
- Limited because of inaccurate math grid
- Limited by the shape of the bottle
- Limited by not knowing the true thickness of the glass

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SACE Number: 885111X Stage 2 Specialist Mathematics Investigation
- Limited by the drawing tools (how thin the lead is etc)
- Limited by GeoGebra’s software if the graph is one to one on GeoGebra without being skewed
- Human error, tracing the bottle/wineglass, holding the bottle/wineglass still

What do I need in a conclusion?

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