Two crossing pillars
Two infinitely long solid cylinders of radius 1 have axes that meet at right angles. What is the volume of their intersection?
Fractions, decimals with at least 3 significant digits, and expressions such as sqrt(2)/2, e^-1 or pi/4.
Slice the intersection with planes parallel to both axes. What shape is each slice?
At distance from the plane of the axes, each cylinder cuts out a band of width .
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Idea. Slice parallel to both axes. Each cylinder cuts the slicing plane in a band, and the two bands cross at right angles, so every slice is a square. Integrating the square's area gives the volume.
Step 1: the slices. Put the axes along the and directions, crossing at the origin. The first cylinder is and the second . At height , the first gives and the second : a square of side .
Step 2: integrate.
A comparison with the ball. The unit ball, which fits inside the intersection, has slices that are discs inscribed in those squares, of area times the square's. So the ball's volume is , as it should be. Archimedes knew this solid; it is called the Steinmetz solid.