O'Henry the Calculus Octopus

This is a project that my friend and I made for AP Calculus BC. The assignment: to construct a solid by gluing together foam cross-sections on top of a base shape.  We chose an oval base, with square cross-sections. In addition, we were to find the volume of the solid by taking the integral of the area of one cross-section.


After constructing the solid, we had some scrap foam left over, and with a bit of inspiration, the "solid" became a "creature". Behold...

O'Henry the Calculus Octopus. With sparkly tentacles! He comes with a story too:

O'Henry likes to do his calculus homework at the beach.

With the seagulls.

Here is O'Henry showing all his work, just as a good math student does. But suddenly, it became EXTREMELY sunny, and...

...BAM! O'Henry fainted from all that sunlight.

Poor octopus. But he recovered and did, in fact, finish his problem set!

Here is an aerial view of O'Henry.

And here is a back view.

And here is the approximate volume of O'Henry the Calculus Octopus, exclusive of tentacles and flag.

Constructing O'Henry, doing the math, and then taking the foam octopus for a photo shoot made for an interesting experience. And O'Henry enjoyed the waves too!