karush said:
Water is being drained from a container which has the shape of an inverted right circular cone The container has a radius of $6 in$ at the top and a length of $8 in$ at the bottom. when the water in the container is $6 in$ deep, the surface level is falling at a rate of $0.9 in/sec$ find the rate at which water is being drained from the container.
Let $R$ be the radius of the conical container, $H$ be its height, $r$ be the radius of the conical volume of water, and $h$ be the height of the volume of water.
By similarity, we know:
$$\frac{R}{H}=\frac{r}{h}\implies r=\frac{hR}{H}$$
The formula for the volume of the water is:
$$V=\frac{1}{3}\pi r^2h=\frac{1}{3}\pi \left(\frac{hR}{H}\right)^2h=\frac{\pi R^2}{3H^2}h^3$$
Differentiate w.r.t time $t$:
$$\d{V}{t}=\frac{\pi R^2}{H^2}h^2\d{h}{t}$$
We are given:
$$R=6\text{ in},\,H=8\text{ in},\,h=6\text{ in},\,\d{h}{t}=-\frac{9}{10}\,\frac{\text{in}}{\text{s}}$$
And so, for this problem, we find:
$$\d{V}{t}=\frac{\pi\left(6\text{ in}\right)^2}{\left(8\text{ in}\right)^2}\left(6\text{ in}\right)^2\left(-\frac{9}{10}\,\frac{\text{in}}{\text{s}}\right)=-\frac{729\pi}{40}\,\frac{\text{in}^3}{\text{s}}\approx -57.3\,\frac{\text{in}^3}{\text{s}}$$
You used the correct formula for a cone, but when you wrote:
$$V=\frac{9\pi}{16}h^3$$
You neglected the 1/3 in the formula...you should have written:
$$V=\frac{3\pi}{16}h^3$$
Other than that minor error, the method you used itself was correct. :)