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How Calculate the Volume of an Ellipse

Often known as a flattened sphere, the ellipse is a geometric shape that is formed when a plane and cone intersect each other. Manufacturers use the elliptical volumetric to find out how much an object, such as a wine glass or elliptical-shaped containers, can hold. Whether you are using the volume of an ellipse for practical applications or in a mathematics classroom, a few measurements and a volume formula can help you calculate the elliptical volume.

Things You'll Need

Calculator
Measuring tool (tape measure, ruler, etc.)

Instructions

- 1
  Format the ellipse onto a coordinate system where the center of the ellipse is centered on the coordinate system at (0,0). The axes of the ellipse should either branch upward or downward and have a specific coordinate.
- 2
  Determine the radius of three points of the elliptical by measuring with a measuring tool like a ruler or tape measure. Point "A" stretches from the center point (0,0) of the elliptical to one end point, point "B" stretches from the center point to the middle of the elliptical line and point "C" stretches from the center point to the other end of the ellipse.
- 3
  Plug the radius values into the volumetric equation for an ellipse: V = 4/3πABC where "π" represents "pii" or the value 3.14, "V" represents the elliptical volume and "A," "B" and "C" represent the radii values found in Step 2. For example, if the three radius values of the ellipse are 4 inches, 6 inches and 4 inches, the volume would be 401.92 inch^2 (4/3 * π * 4 * 6 * 4 = 401.92).

Numerology