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I have to calculate the volume of the set

$\{ (x,y,z) \in \mathbb{R}^3_{\geq 0} |\; \sqrt{x} + \sqrt{y} + \sqrt{z} \leq 1 \}$

and I did this by evaluating the integral

$\int_0^1 \int_0^{(1-\sqrt{x})^2} \int_0^{(1-\sqrt{x}-\sqrt{y})^2} \mathrm dz \; \mathrm dy \; \mathrm dx = \frac{1}{90}.$

However, a friend of mine told me that his assistant professor gave him the numerical solutions and it turns out the solution should be $\frac{1}{70}$. Also, I found out that this would be the result of the integral

$\int_0^1 \int_0^{1-\sqrt{x}} \int_0^{1-\sqrt{x}-\sqrt{y}} \mathrm dz \; \mathrm dy \; \mathrm dx,$

which is pretty much the same as mine just without squares in the upper bounds. My question is: Is the solution provided by the assistant professor wrong or why do I have to calculate the integral without squared upper bounds?

Also, is there any tool to compute the volume of such sets without knowing how one has to integrate?

Thanks for any answer in advance.

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    PS: I of course meant $z \leq (1-\sqrt{x}-\sqrt{y})^2$. Somehow I can't edit my first comment anymore.2011-04-30

1 Answers 1

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An integral $(*)\ \int_B f(x){\rm d}(x)$ over a three-dimensional domain $B$ depends on the exact expression for $f(x)$, $\ x\in{\mathbb R}^n$, and on the exact shape of the domain $B$. The latter is usually defined by a set of inequalities of the form $g_i(x)\leq c_i$. The information about $B$ has to be entered in the course of the reduction of the integral $(*)$ to a sequence of nested integrals. So, as a rule, there is a lot of work involved in the process of reducing everything to the computation and evaluation of primitives.

Now sometimes there is another way of handling such integrals: Maybe we can set up a parametric representation of $B$ with a parameter domain $\tilde B$ which is a standard geometric object like a simplex, a rectangular box or a half sphere. In the case at hand we can use the representation $g: \quad S\to B,\quad (u,v,w)\mapsto (x,y,z):=(u^2,v^2,w^2)$ which produces $B$ as an essentially 1-1 image of the standard simplex $S:=\{(u,v,w)\ |\ u\geq0, v\geq0, w\geq 0, u+v+w\leq1\}\ .$ In the process we have to compute the Jacobian $J_g(u,v,w)=8uvw$ and obtain the following formula: ${\rm vol}(B)=\int_B 1\ {\rm d}(x)= \int_S 1 \> J_g(u,v,w) \> {\rm d}(u,v,w)=\int_0^1\int_0^{1-u}\int_0^{1-u-v} 8uvw \> dw dv du ={1\over 90}\ .$ (In this particular example the simplification is only marginal.)

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    Yes, and the book as well as the solutions to the exercises can be $f$ound on my website.2011-05-01