Areas and Volumes Surface Areas and Volumes of Solids

Have you memorized some of the area and Prisms (including rectangular solids) and Cylinders Polyhedra
volume formulas, like A = πr², without under-
standing the explanation for the formulas? This is Lateral surface area of a right prism or cylinder with perimeter p Surface area of any polyhedron can be determined by breaking it
an attempt to explain all the basic area and and height h is ph. (For a cylinder, this is 2πrh.) into simpler areas.
volume formulas as simply and intuitively as
possible, starting with the easy ones and building Explanation Explanation
up to the more difficult formulas for the area and Imagine unwrapping the surface into a rectangle. You can break the surface area of any polyhedron into
volume of a sphere. triangles.
Areas of Plane Figures Volume of a prism or cylinder, right or oblique (slanted), with base
area A and height h is Ah. (For a cylinder, this is πr²h.) Volume of any polyhedron can be determined by breaking it into
Rectangles and Parallelograms
Explanation simpler solids.
Area of a rectangle or parallelogram
with base b and height h is bh. This is obvious for a right prism or cylinder. This is the Explanation
definition of the concept of volume.
You can break a concave polyhedron into convex
Explanation For an oblique prism or cylinder, imagine starting with polyhedra, then break each convex polyhedron into
This is obvious for a a right prism or cylinder and sliding thin layers to make pyramids with all their peaks together inside the
rectangle. This is the it oblique. polyhedron.
definition of the concept
of area.
A parallelogram can be Pyramids and Cones Spheres
cut and rearranged to Lateral surface area of a right pyramid or cone with perimeter p Surface area of a sphere is 4πr².
form a rectangle. and slant height s is ps/2. (For a cone, this is πrs.)
D d
D d
Triangles Explanation
r r

Area of a triangle with base b and height Divide the surface of the pyramid into its triangles, or
R R
h is bh/2. the surface of the cone into many thin triangles. The d r
D R
Explanation area of the triangles is ½ times the sum of their bases,
similar
p, times their height, s. triangles
Two of the same
triangles form a
parallelogram. Explanation
Volume of a pyramid or cone, right or oblique (slanted), with base The surface area of a sphere is the same as the lateral surface area of a cylinder
area A and height h is Ah/3. (For a cone, this is πr²h/3.) with the same radius and a height of 2r. The area of this cylinder is 2πrh = 2πr(2r)
Polygons = 4πr². To see why the areas are the same, first imagine the sphere sitting snugly
Area of any polygon can be determined Explanation inside the cylinder. Then imagine cutting both the sphere and cylinder at any
by breaking it into simpler areas. height with two closely spaced planes which are parallel to the bases of the
1. The volume is proportional to A and h. Imagine the cylinder. Between the planes is a ring shaped strip of the cylinder's surface and
Explanation effect of doubling A or h. Doubling A will double the a ring shaped strip of the sphere's surface. Both strips have the same area!
volume of every horizontal slice. Doubling h will double Why? The strip of the sphere has a smaller radius but a larger width than the
You can break any the volume of every vertical slice. strip of cylinder, and these two factors exactly cancel, if the strips are narrow.
polygon into triangles. The diagram shows two right triangles. The long side of the big triangle is a
radius of the sphere and the long side of the small triangle is tangent to the
2. An oblique pyramid or cone has the same formula as sphere, so the triangles meet at a right angle. You can see that the triangles are
Circles a right pyramid or cone. Imagine starting with a right similar. This means the ratio of the radii of the two strips (r/R) is the same as the
pyramid or cone and sliding thin layers to make it ratio of the widths of the two strips (d/D). So the areas of the strips are equal
Area of a circle is πr². oblique. (2πRd = 2πrD). Since every strip of the sphere has the same area as the
Explanation corresponding strip of the cylinder, then the area of the whole sphere is the
3. A cone has the same formula as a pyramid. Imagine same as the lateral area of the whole cylinder.
The circumference of a
constructing an approximate cone from many thin
circle is 2πr. This is the Volume of a sphere is 4πr³/3.
oblique pyramids.
definition of π (pi).
Divide the circle into Explanation
many triangular Divide the sphere into many thin pyramids with their
4. The constant must be ⅓. Six pyramids with 1×1
segments. The area of peaks at the center. The volume of the pyramids is ⅓
square bases and heights of ½ fit together (with their
the triangles is ½ times times the sum of their base areas, 4πr², times their
peaks in the center) to form a 1×1×1 cube. So the
the sum of their bases, height, r.
volume of one of these pyramids is 1⁄6, which is Ah/3.
2πr (the circumference), Historical note: Archimedes was the first to calculate the
times their height, r. surface area and volume of a sphere.
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