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A Mathematician Among The Molasses Barrels: Maclaurin's Unpublished Memoir On Volumes, Judith V. Grabiner

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

Suppose we are given a solid of revolution generated by a conic section. Slice out a frustum of the solid [14, diagrams pp. 77, 80]. Then, construct a cylinder, with the same height as the frustum, whose diameter coincides with the diameter of the frustum at the midpoint of its height. What is the difference between the volume of the frustum and the volume of this cylinder? Does this difference depend on where in the solid the frustum is taken?

The beautiful theorems which answer these questions first appear in a 1735 manuscript by Colin Maclaurin (1698–1746). This …