Solids of Revolution

Keegan Laporte
Macomb Mathematics Science Technology Center
AP Calculus
12B
Cybulski
23 February 2015

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Using Integrals to Calculate Area
In mathematics, finding the area under curves of functions cannot be easily
calculated using typical geometric methods. Calculating areas defined by irregular
shapes can best be done using integration techniques found in calculus. Using
integration, a key concept in calculus, area defined by one or more functions can be
found. Shown in Figure 1, a simple function F(x) with a shaded region below has been
drawn to visualize the mathematic concepts.

Figure 1. Graph of F(x) Between Two Points

The area shaded in the graph above would be difficult to calculate using
geometry. However, the area between points A and C is easily found by taking the
integral of the function between the two points.
C

Area= F ( x ) dx
A

The equation, as stated above, is founded from Riemanns Sums and made to create
the definite integral of a function. The basic idea is to create an infinite number of
extremely thin rectangles and then add up the total area of these rectangles. This
concept can be seen in Figure 2 below, as the number of rectangles increases, their
individual areas decrease, but the accuracy of the model eventual becomes exact.

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Figure 2. Infinite Number of Infinitely Small Rectangles

Taken from simple geometry, a rectangle has an area defined by the formula
below.
A=HeightBase

For these rectangles needed, the height will be the value of F(x) at any point x.
While each height will change, the height will be exactly F(x) assuming the graph is
continuous. However, the base of the rectangles is much more difficult to visualize. If
each rectangle has some base that is almost zero, then what value can be used to
represent it? This value, which will be found to be dx, represents such a value. This
explanation requires a more rigorous look into what dx is.
As seen in Figure 3 below, assume that some line graph has a slope as
described by Y / X .

Figure 3. Slope of Linear Function

This slope is the average slope between two points, and for a line, is constant.
The base of this triangle is

X , or the difference between two points on the x axis.

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However this way to determine slope is only useful for linear functions and is not useful
for determining instantaneous slope. In Figure 4. The curve of the graph in Figure 1 is
re-drawn to further explain this problem.

Figure 4. Instantaneous Slope at a Point

Now if the slope at specific point is to be found, a line tangent to that point is
drawn by finding two points near it that have a slope equal to that of the point. The
distances from these points, dy and dx, will become infinitely closer to that point until the
slope created by the triangle is equal to the instantaneous slope at that point. Here dx is
similar to that X

from the linear function; both representing the base of the triangle

that makes the slope of function. However dx is some infinitely small amount.
C

Area= F ( x ) dx
A

Now the area under the function F(x) can be calculated between any two points,
A and C, describing the bounds of the function as shown above. It should be noted that
F(x) should be continuous for all points between points A and C, otherwise the area
under such a curve would be nonsensical.

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Finding Area Between Two Curves
Elaborating on finding the area under curves, the area between two functions can
also be calculated using integration techniques by simply redefining the area that is
being isolated. Shown below in Figure 5, the area between two functions has been
drawn in darkly.

Figure 5. Area Between Two Functions

To find the area between these two functions,

f ( x )= x

and

g (x )=

x
3 , the

only part of the original process that has changed is the height of the shape. For every
rectangle that will be summed, now the height is between the functions, By simply
subtracting these functions the difference between the top and the bottom of the
functions can be found. The new equation for the area between the functions, described
as R, is shown below.

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B

R=
A

( x x3 ) dx
The bounds of this area, A and B as they will be called this time, will be defined

as the x values for the intersections between the functions. A, the first intersection point,
is at the origin x=0. The second intersection is best found by graphing using a graphing
calculator and plotting the intersection point. This point is found to be x=9. The area R
can then be found, shown below in Figure 6.
9

R=
0

( x x3 ) dx
3

)(

2
1 2
2
1 2
R= ( 9) 2 ( 9 ) (0) 2 ( 0 )
3
6
3
6

R= 9/2

= 4.5 Units

Figure 6. Sample Calculation Area of Two Functions

The area between the two functions f(x) and g(x) is exactly 4.5 units as shown in
Figure 6.

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Finding Volume of Rotated Area Described by Two Functions

Disk Method:
Taking the idea of bound area from the previous section, described in Figure 7
and Figure 8, a 3 dimensional shape can be found by rotating the area around an axis
to get a shape.

Figure 7. Area Under a Function

In Figure 7 and Figure 8, a 3D shape is made by rotating the area around the X
axis. The volume of this shape can be found by using an idea called the Disk Method,
Similar to how the area was found the previous sections, imagine this shape as cut up
into an infinite number of infinitely thin disks, all perpendicular to the axis of rotation. Any
disk has a volume like all shapes, Volume = Base*Height, because the base of the
shape is a circle, the volume can be described by the formula below.
2

V = r h

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Where r is the distance from the axis of rotation and the edge of that disk at that
particular point of x, and h is some extremely small thickness that when combined with
the other infinitely thin disks, will equal the volume of the shape.

Figure 8. Rotated Area Around X Axis

Shown in Figure 8 above Just like in the previous section the sum of the smaller
shapes, the disks, can be used to define the total volume of the entire shape, the
rotated function, between two points along the axis that it is being rotated around. This
is expressed in the formula below.
B

V = ( F( x ) ) dx
A

This method to find the volume also works when rotating around the Y axis. If a
function is to be rotated around the Y axis the function must be rewritten as F(y) and a
dy thickness must be used instead to represent the change of axis. This method of
finding volume is limited however, if a function cannot be easily rewritten to F(y), or it is
impossible to do so. Even with this limitation the Disk Method is still relatively easy for

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most simple functions. If a function is to be rotated around a horizontal or vertical line
not on the X or Y axis, the radius should be adjusted to reflect the distance from the new
axis. If the shape in Figure 8 was to be rotated around the line x= -1, simply use 1+F(x)
at the new radius in the formula.
B

V = ( 1+ F ( x )) dx
A

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Rings and Washers:

While the Disk Method is limited to rotating the area defined by one function, a
second method, called the Rings Method (or Washer Method), can better describe the
volume of a rotated shape defined between two functions. Shown below in Figure 6 is a
shape that describes the rotated area captured between two functions F(x) and G(x).

Figure 9. Area of Two Functions Rotated about Y Axis

As shown above in Figure 9, these shapes can be anything defined by the
functions used, and rotated about any point along the x or y axis. In the rings method,
the rotated area is slice into, once again, an infinite number of infinitely thin ring shapes.
Much like how the area between two functions was found, the volume between two
rotated functions will also only require subtraction between the two rotated functions
from the axis from which they are being rotated. In the first image, this looks like the
rotate blue function minus the rotated red function. The inside function is subtracted

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from the outside function. In the second image the same thing is done. The integral
describing this is written below.
B

V = ( ( F ( x ) ) (G ( x ) )2 )dx
A

The decision to use a dx cut or dy cut depends on the axis of rotation. If the area
is rotated around the X axis, like the second graph of Figure 9, then a dx cut, when the
dx represents to thickness of the rings, is used. If the area is rotated around the Y axis,
for the Rings Method a dy cut must be use and the functions must be in terms of y
variables such that the formula is as shown below.
B

V = ( ( F ( y ) ) (G ( y ))2 )dy
A

This limits the use of the Rings method as well if one or both functions cannot be
easily put in terms of their y variable.
An example of using the Rings Method could have a graph similar to the second

image in Figure 9. Some function such that

function

G ( x )=

F ( x )= x

creates a bound area with a

x
3 . These functions were used in a previous section and its bound

area was already found. If this area was then rotated around a horizontal line at y=-2, it
would create a rotated shape with a calculable volume. This volume can be calculate
using a dx cut and the integral for a dx cut shown above can be used.
9

( ) )dx

V = ( 2+ x ) 2+

x
3

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Two things are important to note in the set up. First, the bounds A and B are the
same bounds used from the previous calculation in Figure 6 because the area being
used is still within the same points. Second, because the line the area is being rotated
around is not the X axis, the radius of each function must first be adjusted, then they are
rotated, subtracted to find the new radius, and finally the volume can be calculated.
9

V =31.5

( ) )dx

V = ( 2+ x ) 2+

x
3

units

Figure 10. Sample Calculation Volume of Rotated Bound Area

With a calculation this complex, it is recommended at this point that a calculator is used
to ensure no mistakes are made. Shown above in Figure 10, the calculation used in a
Ti-Nspire calculator is shown. The volume of the rotated area R is equal to 31.5
units.

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Shells:
While the previous two methods are useful in many situations, unfortunately,
certain functions are rotated in ways that require moving around the variables of the
function in ways that are not possible. Like a large polynomial that is expressed in x
variables that cannot be moved around to be expressed in only y variables, the volume
of these functions cannot be expressed with the previous methods. This is where the
Shell Method comes in, rather than using disks and rings that utilize the thickness of the
shapes that are perpendicular to the axis of rotation, the shell method looks more like
an infinite number of very thin cookie cutter pieces of various sizes adding up to the
shape of the rotated area. This is shown below in Figure 11.

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Figure 11. Rotated Area Made From Cylinders

Instead of adding up compounding disks, this method adds up layers and layers
of cylinders made like thin pieces of paper to make the shape. This paper analogy is
useful to understand then how to calculate these infinite pieces of volume that will be
added up in the integration.

Thickness = dx

Height

Circumference=2 r

Figure 12. Volume of A Single Cylinder

To follow with the previous strategies of integrating the volume of an infinite
number some infinitely thin shapes, the volume of these Cylinders can be seen like
rolled out paper. The Volume of which is the height of each cylinder, represented by the
function itself or the difference between two functions like done in previous methods,

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times the circumference, which is

times the radius of the shape, typically x at any

point in time, times the thickness of the shape, dx. This integral is shown below.
B

V = 2 ( RadiusHeight) dx
A

The advantage of this method is that when an area is rotated around the Y axis,
the integral will be a dx cut instead of a dy cut that would be need from the disk or rings
method. This simplifies the equation significantly and expands the type of functions
these formulas can find the volume for.

Cross-Sectional Volumes of Various Shapes

A final use of integration is to find the volume of shapes defined by their crosssections. As can be seen in Figure 13, a these shapes are defined by both the 2d shape
that maps the base of the shape as well as the cross-sectional shape as a repeat
pattern across the function, in this case, the cross sectional shape is series of right
triangles or rectangles.

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Figure 13.
As with the beginning of all these methods to calculate volume, the volume of the
one of the infinite number of these infinitely thin triangles is first found. In the case of a
triangle, the volume formula is shown below.
V =BaseHeight1/ 2
Next, for the integration, lets say there is an area described by the previously

used functions

F ( x )= x

and

G ( x )=

x
3 , now this area, see Figure 5 for a refresher,

is going be the base of a shape that has the cross-section of an isosceles triangle. The
cross-sections are perpendicular to the X axis and one leg is the base. Below in Figure
14 is an example of the how the cross-sections will look like, however Figure 14 has a
different base not the area described by the area bound by the functions above.

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Y axis

X axis

Figure 14. Slab with Isosceles Right Triangle Cross-Sections

To calculate the Volume of this shape, it is equal to the integral of the area of one
triangle times dx. This is shown in the formula below.
9

1
V = Baseheightdx
0 2
With this particular shape, the height of the triangle is actually equal to the length
of the base of itself. With the base of the triangle being equal to the function F(x) G(x),
the exact formula for this shape is below
9

1
x
V = x dx
2
3
0

Figure 15 shows the integral that was solved using a Ti Nspire calculator for the
volume of the slab shape. The volume of this slab shape is 1.35 units.
9

1
x 2
V = x dx
3
0 2

V =1.35 units
Figure 15. Sample Calculation For Volume of Slab Shape

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