Tower Paper
Tower Paper
Tower Paper
Introduction:
Besic - Filion 1
When a multimillionaire challenges one with a task, one does not shy away from that
task. Building a tower, finding the surface area and volume, and doing a cost analysis can't be
A greenhouse-themed tower was requested because the millionaire loves flowers and
does not get to see them during the winter. Once the tower is built, she will be able to see them
anytime she wants. She also believed that it would be a wonderful investment, and was willing
to pay handsomely. In order to add to the beauty of the greenhouse tower, she wanted an
She wished for a 12-sided tower (dodecagon) and established that it would be built on a
33x33 plot of land. Obviously, she wanted to maximize the space, but the local rules restrict
building within three feet of the boundaries of the plot. Several other sizing and building
The tower project seems terrifying, but is also exciting. There is no room for mistakes
and every requirement must be met. This tower will not only meet expectations, it will exceed
them. By the time this project is completed, this millionaire will be pleased and impressed.
Part Two:
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Figure 1 above shows the base of the tower in the plot. The four polygons shown in the
upcoming figures make up the base. The polygons play a key role in the tower project.
Simplify 27 x 27
Table 1 above shows how the plot size was maximized. According to the rules, the tower
can not be within 3 feet of the boundaries of the plot. To comply, the plot size of 33 x 33 was
subtracted by 6, since three feet had to be subtracted from each side. After subtracting the plot
Substitution 360/12
Simplify 30°
Table 2 above shows how 30° was found as the central angle measure of the polygon.
The general formula used to find a central angle is 360 divided by "n" or the number of sides of
the polygon. The polygon has 12 sides, so 12 was plugged in for "n" in the equation. Once that
Figure 2. Polygon 1
Figure 2 shows polygon 1, which is the outermost polygon. The base of the triangle is
“b” and the height of the triangle is “h”. The height is known to be 13.5 feet because 27 is the
length of one side of the square plot of land that the tower can be built on. Since the sides of the
dodecagon touch the square, the height was found by dividing 27 by 2. From there, the original
triangle inside of the dodecagon is cut in half in order to make a right triangle. It is important to
have a right triangle because the value of the base is unknown and right triangle trigonometry
can be used to find the value of the base. Once that knowledge is known, the area of polygon 1
can be found.
Substitution Tan(15°)=x/13.5
Simplify x=13.5(tan(15°))
Table 3 above shows how the base value was found. First of all, 15° was used as the
reference angle. The central angle was found to be 30°, so when the triangle was split in half,
the central angle was too. Anyway, to find the value of the base, tangent was used. Since the
opposite side of the reference angle, the base, was unknown, x was plugged into the equation.
Since the adjacent side of the reference angle was the height, 13.5 was plugged into the equation.
From there, the equation was simpified and the base value was found to be 13.5(tan(15°)). It is
unnecessary to find the actual numerical value of that because the exact value needs to be
plugged into the area formula in order to get the most precise area. If the numerical value was
found, there would be rounding, and the value of the base would change slightly.
Substitution A=(24×½)(13.5×tan(15°))(13.5)
Simplify A=12(13.5×tan(15°))(13.5)
triangles, “A=½(base)(height)”, was set up. However, since there were 24 right triangles in
polygon 1, the equation was multiplied by 24. From there, 13.5×tan(15°) was plugged in as the
base and 13.5 was plugged in as the height. Then, everything was simplified to find an area of
Figure 3. Polygon 2
Figure 3 shows polygon 2. The base of the triangle is “b” and the height of the triangle is
“h”. The height is known to be 12.5 feet because the polygons are 1 foot apart, so 13.5 minus 1
is 12.5. The original triangle inside of the dodecagon is then cut in half in order to make a right
triangle. A right triangle is needed in order to continue the problem because without one, the
value of the base would never be found and therefore, the area of the polygon could not be
found.
Substitution Tan(15°)=x/12.5
Simplify x=12.5(tan(15°))
Table 5 above shows how the base value was found. Once again, 15° was used as the
reference angle. Even though the polygon got smaller, the angles still remain the same.
Anyway, to find the value of the base, tangent was used. Since the opposite side of the reference
angle, the base, was unknown, x was plugged into the equation. Since the adjacent side of the
reference angle was the height, 12.5 was plugged into the equation. From there, the equation
was simplified and the base value was found to be 12.5(tan(15°)). It is unnecessary to find the
Besic - Filion 6
numerical value because rounding would occur, and that would slightly change the value of the
base.
Substitution A=(24×½)(12.5×tan(15°))(12.5)
Simplify A=12(12.5×tan(15°))(12.5)
formula for triangles “A=½(base)(height)” was set up. However, since there were 24 right
triangles in polygon 2, the equation was multiplied by 24. From there, 12.5×tan(15°) was
plugged in as the base and 12.5 was plugged in as the height. Then, everything was simplified to
Figure 4. Polygon 3
Figure 4 shows polygon 3. The base of the triangle is “b” and the height of the triangle is
“h”. The height is known to be 11.5 feet because the polygons are 1 foot apart, so 12.5 minus 1
is 11.5. The original triangle inside of the dodecagon is then cut in half in order to make a right
triangle. As said before, without a right triangle, the area of the polygon could not be found.
Substitution Tan(15°)=x/11.5
Simplify x=11.5(tan(15°))
Table 7 above shows how the value of the base was found. Once again, 15° was used as
the reference angle. Even though the polygon keeps getting smaller, the angles still remain the
same. Anyway, to find the value of the base, tangent was used. Since the opposite side of the
reference angle, the base, was unknown, x was plugged into the equation. Since the adjacent
side of the reference angle was the height, 11.5 was plugged into the equation. From there, the
equation was simplified and the base value was found to be 11.5(tan(15°)). As said before, it is
Substitution A=(24×½)(11.5×tan(15°))(11.5)
Simplify A=12(11.5×tan(15°))(11.5)
triangles, “A=½(base)(height)”, was set up. However, since there were 24 right triangles in
polygon 3, the equation was multiplied by 24. From there, 11.5×tan(15°) was plugged in as the
base and 11.5 was plugged in as the height. Finally, everything was simplified to find an area of
Figure 5. Polygon 4
Figure 5 shows polygon 4. The base of the triangle is “b” and the height of the triangle is
“h”. The height is known to be 10.5 feet because the polygons are 1 foot apart, so 11.5 minus 1
is 10.5. The original triangle inside of the dodecagon is then cut in half in order to make a right
triangle. The importance of the right triangle is evident throughout the paper.
Substitution Tan(15°)=x/10.5
Simplify x=10.5(tan(15°))
Table 9 above shows how the value of the base was found. Once again, 15° was used as
the reference angle. Even though the polygons continue to get smaller, the angles still remain the
same. Anyway, to find the value of the base, tangent was used. Since the opposite side of the
reference angle, the base, was unknown, x was plugged into the equation. Since the adjacent
side of the reference angle was the height, 10.5 was plugged into the equation. From there, the
equation was simplified and the base value was found to be 10.5(tan(15°)). As said before, it is
Substitution A=(24×½)(10.5×tan(15°))(10.5)
Simplify A=12(10.5×tan(15°))(10.5)
triangles, “A=½(base)(height)”, was set up. However, since there were 24 right triangles in
Besic - Filion 9
polygon 4, the equation was multiplied by 24. From there, 10.5×tan(15°) was plugged in as the
base and 10.5 was plugged in as the height. Then, everything was simplified to find an area of
Part Three:
Besic - Filion 10
Figure 6 above shows the footing of the tower, which is 3.5 feet deep and 3 feet wide
Substitution V=(586.01×3.5)-(354.50×3.5)
Simplify V=2051.04-1240.75
of polygon 1 must be multiplied by the depth of the footing (3.5) and then subtract the area of
polygon 4 multiplied with the depth of the footing. The volume of the footing is about 810.29ft3.
Figure 7 above shows the dimensions used to construct the floor. The floor had to extend
to polygon 4 causing its base area to be the same. The flooring is also required to be 4 inches
Substitution V=354.50×⅓ft
4 inches thick. 4 inches then had to be converted into feet making the height ⅓ of a foot.
Knowing that information, the volume formula for prisms (area of base)(height of prism) can be
used. The area of polygon 4 was 354.50 and when multiplied by ⅓ the volume of the floor was
Figure 8, above, shows the aquarium of the tower. The aquarium must be under the floor
of the tower, which makes it under the flooring and in the footing of the tower. The base of the
flooring is the same as the area of polygon 4. The aquarium also must be 3.5 feet deep as it is the
Substitution (0.75*3.5)354.50
needs to be 75% full which is recalculated as 0.75. The aquarium must be 3.5 feet thick and the
base is the same as the area of polygon 4. When these numbers are calculated together, the
Substitution (810.29*115)/27
find the cost, the volume of the footing(810.29ft3) was multiplied by the price of the concrete
($115) and then it was divided by 27 because the concrete was in bags of cubic yards. In the end,
Substitution (354.50/32)*1100
The flooring is sold by sheets of 48’’x 96”x 4’’. Since the thickness is already 4, it can be
Besic - Filion 13
disregarded. It was found that if 48” and 96” by 12 to convert them to feet the sheets would be
4’x 8’. When these are multiplied together, the product is a sheet of 32’². Then the area of the
flooring(same as area of polygon 4) will be divided by 32 and then multiplied by the cost of the
sheets($1100). In the end, the cost of plexiglas was $12,185.9. This was then rounded to 3 sheets
because a fraction of sheet can not be purchased, making the total price $13200.
Part Four:
Besic - Filion 14
Side Length=12.5(tan(15°))(2)
Figure 9. Base of Outer Prism
Figure 9 above shows the base of the outer prism, or polygon 2. The side length of
polygon 2 is 12.5(tan(15°))(2), or about 6.70 feet. Half of the side length was found in table 5,
(12.5(tan(15°)) in order to find the area of the base, so that was multiplied by 2 in order to find
Figure 10 above shows a lateral face of the outer prism with a door. The dimensions of
the door, 3 feet and 5 feet, were given. The base of the rectangle is about 6.70 feet and the
height of the rectangle is about 13.40 feet. The base of the rectangle is just the side length of
polygon 2, as shown in table 5. In table five, 12.5(tan(15°)) is found as the base of the right
triangle, so that had to be multiplied by 2 and simplified to get a side length of about 6.70 feet.
The height of the prism is twice the length of one side of polygon 2, so 25×tan(15°) was
multiplied by 2 to get a height of about 13.40 feet. The shape above the rectangle is half of a
dodecagon.
Substitution A=3(5)
Table 16 above shows how to find the area of the rectangular part of the door. The
general formula for rectangles is “A=(Base)(Height)”, so that was what was used. Since the base
Besic - Filion 16
and height were given(3 and 5), they were plugged into the equation and it was simplified to get
an area of 15 feet2.
Substitution Tan(15°)=x/1.5
Simplify 1.5(tan(15°)(2)=x
was necessary to split the shape into right triangles so that right triangle trigonometry could be
used to find the side length. The segment that essentially split the dodecagon in half was 3 feet,
so half of that was 1.5 feet. 1.5 was later used as the adjacent side in the tangent formula.
Anyway, the reference angle that was used was 15 degrees because the central angle measure of
a dodecagon is 30 degrees (refer to table 2). The reference angle of 15 degrees and the adjacent
side of 1.5 feet was then plugged into the tangent formula. That simplified to get
1.5(tan(15°)(2), or about .80 feet. It was multiplied by 2 because without doing that, the answer
Substitution A=½(1.5(tan(15°)(2))(1.5)(6)
height were already known from Table 17, so they were just plugged into the equation.
1.5(tan(15°)(2) was plugged in as the base rather than about .80 because it was important to be as
accurate as possible, and rounding would have caused a slight difference in answers. The
formula “A=½(Base)(Height)(6)” was used because the top of the door was separated into six
Besic - Filion 17
triangles. Anyway, once everything was simplified, the area of the top of the door was found to
Substitution A=3.62+15
area of the top part of the door and 15 was found as the rectangular part of the door, they were
Figure 11 above shows a lateral face of the outer prism with a window. As explained in
Figure 7, the side length of the face is 6.70 feet and the height is 13.40 feet. The window has the
same dimensions as the top of the door, but it is a complete dodecagon rather than half of a
dodecagon.
Besic - Filion 18
Substitution A=½(1.5(tan(15°)(2))(1.5)(6)(2)
the window was already found in Table 13, it was just multiplied by 2.
½(1.5(tan(15°)(2))(1.5)(6) was plugged into the equation for the area of the top part of the door
rather than rounding to 3.62 because it was important to be as accurate as possible, and rounding
would have caused a slight difference in answers. Anyway, once the equation was simplified,
Substitution A=12((12.5)(tan(15°)(2))((12.5)(tan(15°)(4))
“A=(Base)(Height)(12)” was used because each face was a rectangle and there were 12 faces.
((12.5)(tan(15°)(2)) was plugged into the equation as the base because (12.5)(tan(15°) was found
as half of the side length in Table 5 when right triangle trigonometry was used. In order to find
the missing side lengths, the triangle had to be split into two. ((12.5)(tan(15°)(4)) was plugged
into the equation as the height because the height is twice the length of one side of polygon 2.
Anyway, once the equation was simplified, the lateral surface area of the outer prism was found
Part Five:
Besic - Filion 19
Side Length=11.5(tan(15°))(2)
Figure 12. Base of Inner Prism
Figure 12 above shows polygon 3, which is the base of the inner prism. The side length
of polygon 3 is 11.5(tan(15°))(2), or about 6.16 feet. Half of the side length was found in table
7, (11.5(tan(15°)), in order to find the area of the base, so that was multiplied by 2 in order to
Figure 13 above shows a lateral face of the inner prism. The short side is about 6.16 feet
and the long side is about 13.40 feet. The long side is the height of the prism. The height is
twice the length of one side of polygon 2. The base of the rectangle is just the side length of
polygon 3, as shown in table 7. In Table 7, 11.5(tan(15°)) is found as the base of the right
triangle, so that had to be multiplied by 2 and simplified to get a side length of about 6.16 feet.
Substitution V=12(11.5×tan(15°))(11.5)(50×tan(15°))
area of the base instead of about 425.235 because rounding could have resulted in a slightly
different answer. The area of the base was previously found in Table 8. Since the height was
Besic - Filion 21
also previously found to be (50×tan(15°)), that was also plugged into the equation. The equation
Part Six:
Substitution H=25(tan(15°))(3)
Simplify H=75(tan(15°))
of polygon 2 (refer to Table 5), was plugged into the equation “H=(One Side of Polygon 2)(3)”
because the height of the outer pyramid is three times the length of one side of polygon 2. It is
important to remember that in Table 5, the side length was found to be 12.5(tan(15°)).
25(tan(15°)) was plugged into the equation instead of 12.5(tan(15°)) because in Table 5, only
half of the base was found since right triangle trigonometry was used. Anyway, that was
Substitution 12.52+20.102=c2
Simplify c=√560.26
of polygon 2 and the height of the outer pyramid were known, Pythagorean theorem could be
used to find the slant height. 12.5 was plugged in as the height of polygon 2 (refer to Figure 3)
and 20.10 was plugged in as the height of the outer pyramid (refer to Table 18). The equation
Table 25. Angle Measure Between the Prism Base and the Pyramid Face
Formula Used to Find Angle Measure Cos(𝜃)=Adjacent Side/Hypotenuse
Substitution Cos(𝜃)=12.5/23.67
Simplify 𝜃 ≈58.12°
Table 25 above shows how to find the angle measure between the prism base and the
pyramid face. Right triangle trigonometry was used because the angle measure was part of a
right triangle. Since the adjacent side and the hypotenuse were known, cosine was used. The
adjacent side (12.5) and the hypotenuse (23.67) were plugged into the equation, which was then
Part Seven:
Besic - Filion 23
Height=23.67 feet
Figure 15, above, shows the dimensions used to construct one lateral face of the outer
pyramid. The outer pyramid extends to polygon 3 making the length of the base 6.70 feet. The
height of the triangle was found to 23.67 feet which will be explained how that was calculated
later. It also shows that angle measures of the face. Angle A was approximately 8.09° and angle
B and angle C were found to be approximately 81.94°. An explanation of how those angles were
Substitution tan-1(3.35/23.67)
Table 26, above, shows how to find the measure of angle A.To find this angle the trig
function tangent was used. Half of the base, 1.675, was used for the opposite side and the height
of the triangle, 23.67, was used for the adjacent side. When the equation tan-1 (3.35/23.67) was
trig function tangent was used. The height of the triangle, 23.67, was used for the opposite side
and half of the base,3.35, was used for the adjacent side. When the equation tan-1 (23.67/3.35)
Substitution tan-1(23.67/3.35)
being used is isosceles the equation and angle are the same. When that height and half of the
base are plugged into inverse tangent the equation is tan-1(23.67/3.35). When the equation is
Substitution ½(6.70*23.67)
find this, the equation ½(b*h) was used because that is how you find the area of a triangle. The
base of polygon two was used as the base. The slant height of the outer pyramid was used as the
height to find one lateral face of the outer pyramid. Once the product of the base and height was
found, it was then multiplied by ½ . The area of one lateral face of the outer pyramid was found
to be approximately 79.268feet2.
Substitution 12*½(6.70*23.67)
LSA 951.22feet2
Table 30, above, shows how to find the lateral surface area of the outer pyramid. To find
this, the equation 12*½(base*height) was used. Since we had a 12 sided polygon, We had 12
triangles in order to make up the pyramid for this tower. The area of one lateral face of the outer
pyramid was multiplied by 12 because there was a total of 12 triangles. The lateral surface area
Part Eight:
Besic - Filion 26
Height=18.48 Feet
Base=6.16 feet
Figure 16, above shows the dimensions of the inner pyramid of the roof. The inner
pyramid extended to polygon 3 making the length of the base 6.16feet. The height was then
required to be 3 time the length of the base. When the base was tripled the height was found to
Substitution 3*6.16
the pyramid the base of polygon 3 which was 6.16, was multiplied by 3 to find the height to be
Substitution ⅓(425.235*18.48)
Table 32, above, shows the volume for the inner pyramid. To find the volume of the
pyramid, the formula ⅓ (area of base)(height of pyramid) can be used. The area of the base of
polygon 3 was previously found to be 425.235 feet² and the height was previously found to be
18.48 feet. When the equation ⅓ (425.235*18.48) was solved the volume of the inner pyramid
Part Nine:
Besic - Filion 28
Figure 17, above, shows the tower after the walls and roof are built.
Substitution 1076.95+951.22
surface area of the outer tower, the lateral surface area of the outer prism and the lateral surface
area of the outer pyramid were added together. The solution of the lateral surface area of the
outer prism and the lateral surface area of the outer pyramid were found previously. The lateral
pyramid
Substitution 5698+2620.65
the inner tower, the volume of the inner prism and the volume of the inner pyramid were added
together. The solution of the volume of the inner prism and the volume of the inner pyramid
were found previously. The volume of the inner tower was found to be approximately 8317.73
feet3.
Conclusion:
Towards the end of the building process, it became clear that the initial goal of this
project would be reached. The millionaire would, in fact, be impressed and amazed by the
tower. The math involving the tower was all correct and the structure itself looked magnificent.
Everyone involved in this daring project is confident that their hard work will be worth it when
While calculating the math for the tower, there were some issues that were encountered.
One of the issues was rounding the answers. If the numbers that were plugged into an equation
were rounded, then the answer to the equation would be wrong. It was necessary to be as exact
as possible in order to get the most accurate answers. There were also problems with building the
tower itself. One task that was particularly frustrating when building the tower was making sure
that the pieces were uniform. If they weren’t all nearly identical, then the tower would have
After many ups and downs, the greenhouse tower has been successfully created. We
hope that the millionaire enjoys the tower, as well as anyone else who happens to step inside.
Although constructing the tower proved to be a little challenging, it was worth it in the end.