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I recently found out about the Steinmetz Solids, obtained as the intersection of two or three cylinders of equal radius at right angles. If we set the radius $ = 1 $ the volumes are respectively

$ V_2 = \frac{4}{3}\cdot4 $

$ V_3 = \frac{4}{3}\cdot6(2-\sqrt{2}) $

A natural question is to find the volume of the shape created by the intersection of more cylinders whose axes intersect all at a single point: Moreton Moore wrote an article where he calculates the volume of the intersection of $ 4 $ and $ 6 $ cylinders with the axes passing through the center of the opposite faces of the octahedron and dodecahedron respectively

$ V_4=\frac{4}{3}\cdot9(2\sqrt{2}-\sqrt{6}) $

$ V_6=\frac{4}{3}\cdot4(3+2\sqrt{3}-4\sqrt{2}) $

In another post was given the answer for the $ 10 $ cylinders case:

$ V_{10} = \frac{4}{3}\cdot\frac{15}{4}(24 + 24 \sqrt{2} + \sqrt{3} - 4\sqrt{6} - 7\sqrt{15} - 4\sqrt{30}) $

It's immediate to note that the limiting volume of infinite intersecting cylinders will be the unit sphere

$ V_\infty = \frac{4}{3}\cdot\pi $

So my question is if a formula is known for the general volume $ V_n $. The question was already asked here, but no response was given. Writing $V_n = \frac{4}{3}\cdot\sum_{i=1}^N a_i $ how can I calculate the algebraic coefficients $ a_i$ without calculating the integrals for each case? The corresponding serie would be $ \sum_{i=1}^\infty a_i = \pi$

user967210
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  • The cases you mention are special, in that they correspond to Platonic solids. In general, there isn't a preferred way to orient $n$ cylinders, and the volume will depend on the relative orientations of the cylinders. You could ask for the minimum volume among all possible intersections of $n$ cylinders; I suspect but am not certain that the arrangements arising from Platonic solids are minimal in that sense. – Travis Willse Feb 12 '24 at 23:33
  • @TravisWillse thanks for your reply, If I ask for the minimum volume I guess that the answer would be the intersection of cylinders with axes on the same plane (https://mathoverflow.net/questions/430504/intersecting-cylinders-around-a-sphere), and it would be rather obvious how to calculate the volume. Instead I'm interested in those rather peculiar configurations with cylinders axes intersecting at the same point and oriented like diagonals of some solids. – user967210 Feb 13 '24 at 11:00

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