Banana shape(s) – the math(s)

Have you ever mused upon the question: ‘Is the cross section of a banana an ellipsoid, and if so, can it be used to gauge its volume and surface area? Yes? Then a report in the International Journal of Agricultural Science, Research and Technology (IJASRT) 2011 Vol. 1 No. 1 pp. 1-5, may be of interest.

“Among fruits and vegetables, banana fruit has exclusive physical properties that make it different from other fruits and vegetables such as shape and curvature. Also banana is one of fruits that need to extract its physical properties as a result of its importance.”

– explain investigators Soltani, M., Alimardani, R. and Omid, M.

of the Department of Agricultural Machinery, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, University of Tehran, in their paper: ‘Some physical properties of full-ripe banana fruit (Cavendish variety)’. This illustration shows cross sections of bananas, and some of the relevant mathematical calculations.

 

And so, in answer to the question posed above:

“By ellipsoidal estimation the volume, surface and projected areas is calculated easily and reliably.”

Note: Musa cavendishii has featured in mainstream news media recently, we ask: ‘Has the imminent death of Cavendish been greatly exaggerated, or not?’

Bonus: Professor Banana is co-author of the paper: ‘A socio-economic analysis of forest foods’