If i remember correctly, i believe it has something to do with the work of archimedes in respect to the volumes of two dimensional shapes (circle, triangle, square) rotated around an axis.
This is the example i found...
Take a square with side a, a circle k, a parabola and the triangle with hypontnouse d. A complete rotation of these curves around the x-axis will produce a cylinder, a semi-sphere, a paraboloid and a cone that have volume ratios as 6:4:3:2.
Dean explained this to me at the UTC regional in 99, and from what i remember him saying, he was so fascinated by the triange-circle-square trick that he wanted to design the logo after this.
Any other ideas?
Tom