higher dimensions. Further terminology The perimeter of the base of a cone is called the "directrix", and each of the line segments between the directrix and apex is a "generatrix" or "generating line" of the lateral surface. (For the connection between this sense of the term "directrix" and the directrix of a conic section, see Dandelin spheres.) The "base radius" of a circular cone is the radius of its base; often this is simply called the radius of the cone. The aperture of a right circular cone is the maximum angle between two generatrix lines; if the generatrix makes an angle θ to the axis, the aperture is 2θ. In optics, the angle θ is called the half-angle of the cone, to distinguish it from the aperture. A cone with a region including its apex cut off by a plane is called a "truncated cone"; if the truncation plane is parallel to the cone's base, it is called a frustum. An "elliptical cone" is a cone with an elliptical base. A "generalized cone" is the surface created by the set of lines passing through a vertex and every point on a boundary (also see visual hull). Measurements and equations Volume The volume of any conic solid is one third of the product of the area of the base and the height In modern mathematics, this formula can easily be computed using calculus — it is, up to scaling, the integral Without using calculus, the formula can be proven by comparing the cone to a pyramid and applying Cavalieri's principle – specifically, comparing the cone to a (vertically scaled) right square pyramid, which forms one third of a cube. This formula cannot be proven without using such infinitesimal arguments – unlike the 2-dimensional formulae for polyhedral area, though similar to the area of the circle – and hence admitted less rigorous proofs before the advent of calculus, with the ancient Greeks using the method of exhaustion. This is essentially the content of Hilbert's third problem – more precisely, not all polyhedral pyramids are scissors congruent (can be cut apart into finite pieces and rearranged into the other), and thus volume cannot be computed purely by using a decomposition argument. Center of mass The center of mass of a conic solid of uniform density lies one-quarter of the way from the center of the base to the vertex, on the straight line