Surface Area and Volume of Cylinders

Date: 05/25/2001 at 18:40:17
From: Matt Gibbs
Subject: Volume & surface area of cylinders

I would like to know if you could tell me how to find the surface area 
of cylinders. Also, could you tell me how to find the volume of 
cylinders? I don't have any clue on how to get started. Please help me 
if you can.

Thank you,
Matt

Date: 05/25/2001 at 22:11:01
From: Doctor Peterson
Subject: Re: Volume & surface area of cylinders

Hi, Matt.

If you just want the formulas, you can go to our FAQ and click on 
Formulas. For more details, go to our search page and enter "surface 
area cylinder."

But I'll give you the basics so you can figure it out yourself.

Suppose you want to find the surface area of a soup can. Get a can 
opener and cut around the top and bottom and take them off. Now get a 
pair of shears and cut straight down the side, and flatten it out to 
make a rectangle. Now you have two circles and a rectangle; you know 
how to find their areas, so just add them together. That's all there 
is to it.

Now, for the volume, it's just the product of the area of the base 
(the circle) and the height. You can picture finding the volume of a 
cylinder one unit high by fitting unit cubes together to cover the 
base; the number it will take is just the area of the base. Now 
multiply that by the number of layers it takes to fill the whole 
cylinder, which is its height.

- Doctor Peterson, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/