Torricelliâ€™s Trumpet

Jan 9, 2020 | Hinsdale

Torricelli-03

If you're wondering what this strange image is, it is called Torricelli's Trumpet!

It was invented by Evangelista Torricelli, a student of Galileo, who is also known for inventing the barometer! (A barometer is an instrument measuring atmospheric pressure, used especially in forecasting the weather and determining altitude.)

As for his Trumpet, he used the following formula, shared with us on ThatsMaths.com:

"It is the surface generated when the curve {y=1/x} for {x\ge1} is rotated in 3-space about the x-axis."

On a graph, it looks like this:

Torricelli-01A

The Trumpet can keep extending on to infinity, meaning that the surface area of the trumpet is infinite!

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Torricelliâ€™s Trumpet

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