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Can one use geometry to measure the volume of something irregularly shaped?

Asked by Trillian (21148points) March 19th, 2012

My knowledge of geometry is scanty, at best. As I understand it; Euclidian geometry is used to measure man made shapes like circles, squares, spheres, cylinders, rectangles, etc.
What if I want to measure the total volume of a wrapped piece of mint candy including the wrapper?
Fractals are used to measure shapes found in nature. They were used to more accurately measure England’s coastline and have had countless applications since then.
I don’t actually care about the contest at work, I think the prize is a $50 gift card, it just got to thinking as I walked past it today. There are little green and white striped pieces of candy in a gallon jar. You have to guess the number of pieces. My mind wandered off on a tangent because the pieces are rendered irregular with the wrapping, so that would have to be factored in.
So does Euclidian geometry have a formula for figuring this? Would Fractal geometry be able to more effectively figure this out?
Just curious.

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