This problem first came to me in high school, and a couple times since, and I even assigned it for extra credit in one of my calculus classes after I became a teacher. So I know the solution. What I am looking for is other WAYS to obtain the solution. I've been told there exists a solution using only arithmetic, but have never figured it out. Other solutions using ordinary calculus, trigonometry, algebra of conic sections, and so on are also possible.
The problem is usually stated in the form of a letter from an Aunt and Uncle:
Dear niece/nephew, How are things going for you and your folks? We hear you are doing quite well it school. Keep it up! Given this success, we were hoping you could help us figure out a little dilemma. As you know, our home is heated by fuel oil, and we have a big tank buried in the side yard. The tank is a cylinder, 20 feet long and 10 feet in diameter, lying on its side five feet deep, with a narrow tube coming to a fill cap at ground level. Your uncle has a 15 foot length of old pipe that we'd like to utilize as a dip stick in order to know when we are getting close to needing a fill-up. We know that 0 feet is empty, 5 feet is half full, and 10 feet is completely full. Trouble is, we don't know how to mark any other points. We are pretty sure they will not be uniformly spaced. What we really want is to know, within the nearest 0.01 foot, where to mark the dip stick for every multiple of 10% from 0% to 100%. Can you figure this out for us? Of course, we will want to see details of your solution and check it ourselves, and it would especially help if you could draw us a scale model of the dip stick. Love, Auntie Flo and Uncle Jim
That last sentence shows the teacher influence on the problem. So, my challenge to this community is not to find any old solution, but to find the solution at the lowest possible grade level, so to speak.
Thanks.
UPDATE: To those who are focusing in on the .01 feet accuracy, I apologize. The intent was merely to state, it is acceptable to estimate. If the exact answer is sqrt(2)*pi/2 or some other silly thing, go ahead and just write 2.22 feet, for example.