Parametric Surfaces and their Area

Part 2

Parametric Surfaces Tangent Plane

Consider the parametric surface r (u, v ) x (u, v ), y (u, v ), z (u, v )
=
defined over some domain D.

The line v = v0 is mapped

to the gridline C1=r(u,v0)

The line u = u0 is mapped

to the gridline C2 =r(u0,v)
The vector 0 , 0 =

0 , 0 =

0 , 0 ,

0 , 0 ,

0 , 0

is the tangent vector to C1 at = (0 , 0 )

The vector 0 , 0 =

0 , 0 =

0 , 0 ,

0 , 0 ,

0 , 0

is the tangent vector to C2 at = (0 , 0 )

Thus, the vector = (0 , 0 ) (0 , 0 ) is the Normal vector to the

surface at = (0 , 0 ) .

Parametric surfaces Tangent Plane

We can use this fact to find the equation of the tangent plane to a parametric
surface at a given point.
Example 6: Find the equation of the tangent plane to
at = 2, =

.
2

r (u, v ) u cos v, u sin v, u

ru (u, v ) cos v,sin v,1 ru 2, = 0,1,1
2

rv (u, v ) u sin v, u cos v,0 rv 2, = 2,0,0
2
Thus the normal vector to the tangent plane is n ru rv 0, 2, 2

Cartesian coordinates of the point corresponding to u = 2, v :

2

P r 2, 0, 2, 2
2
Equation of tangent plane: 0(x0) 2(y 2)+2(z 2)=0
which simplifies to = 0
Note that the surface is a cone. Can you see that from the parametric equations?

Parametric Surfaces Surface Area

Consider the parametric surface S described by the equation

r (u, v ) x(u, v ), y (u, v ), z (u, v )

defined over some domain D.

Divide the domain D into sub-rectangles . Lets choose ( , ) to be the
lower left corner of .

r
The rectangle is mapped
to the patch .
( , ) maps to the point

Let = ( , ) and = ( , ) be the tangent vectors at

Parametric Surfaces and their area

Let = ( , ) and = ( , )
be the tangent vectors at

The area of the patch can be approximated

by the area of the parallelogram determined
by the vectors and
Area of parallelogram:

is approximately the area of .

Area of the surface S is

A( S ) ru rv dudv
D

Parametric Surfaces and their area Example 7

Find the surface area of the helicoid
0 v 5 , 0 u 1

r (u, v ) u cos v, u sin v, v

ru cos v,sin v,0

rv u sin v, u cos v,1

ru rv sin v, cos v, u cos 2 v u sin 2 v

sin v, cos v, u
ru rv sin 2 v cos2 v u 2 1 u 2

A( S ) ru rv dA
D

1 u 2 dvdu

5
1 u du
2
2

2 ln

2 1 5.74

Parametric Surfaces and their area Example 8

Find the surface area of a sphere of radius a

The sphere can be parameterized by r ( , ) a cos sin , a sin sin , a cos

0 2 , 0
We then have:
r a cos cos , a sin cos , a sin
r a sin sin , a cos sin ,0
i
j
k
r r a sin sin a cos sin
0
a cos cos a sin cos a sin
a 2 cos sin 2 , a 2 sin sin 2 , a 2 sin 2 sin cos a 2 cos 2 sin cos

a 2 cos sin 2 , a 2 sin sin 2 , a 2 sin cos sin 2 cos 2

=1

a 2 cos sin 2 , sin sin 2 , sin cos

r r a 4 cos2 sin 4 sin 2 sin 4 sin 2 cos2

a

2
2
2
2
2

a
sin

sin

cos

a
sin

sin sin cos

r r a sin
2

A(S) =a

=1

sin d d 2 a

sin d 4 a 2

Parametric Surfaces and their area

If the surface is of the form = (, ), for , in some domain D, then it
can be parameterized by , = , , (, )
Then = 1,0, , = 0,1, and = , , 1
rx ry 1 f x 2 f y 2

Surface Area:

A( S )
D

1 f x 2 f y 2 dA

z z
1 dA
x y
D

Parametric Surfaces and their area Example 9

Find the surface area of the part of the sphere 2 + 2 + 2 = 16 that lies above
the cone = 2 + 2
Since z is positive, the surface can be
written in explicit form as
z 16 x 2 y 2

Find the curve C of intersection:

16 x 2 y 2 x 2 y 2
2( x 2 y 2 ) 16
x2 y2 8

D ( x, y ) x 2 y 2 8
2

z z
A( S ) 1 dA
x y
D
D
2

x
y
1

dA
16 x 2 y 2 16 x 2 y 2

Parametric Surfaces and their area Example 9 continued

2

x
y
1

dA
16 x 2 y 2 16 x 2 y 2

A( S )
D

x2
y2
1

dA
16 x 2 y 2 16 x 2 y 2

16 x 2 y 2 x 2 y 2
dA
2
2
16 x y
4
dA
2
2
16 x y

Changing to polar coordinates:

4
16 r

r
16 r

rd dr

dr 8 4 2 2 29.44

D ( x, y ) x 2 y 2 8

Parametric Surfaces and their area Example 10

Find the surface area cut out of the cylinder 2 + 2 = 81 by the cylinder
2 + 2 = 81.

We can use symmetry and find twice the area

of the surface = 81 2
on the domain

D ( x, y ) x 2 y 2 81

A( S ) 2
D

2
D

x
z z

2
1

dA
1 dA

2
x y
81 x
D
2

x2
9
81 x 2
9
1
1
dA

18
dydx
18 2 dx 648
9 81 x2 81 x 2
81 x 2
9