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Solids of Revolution

Have you ever wondered how craftsmen know exactly how much area an object

will take up, or how much material they have to order to create a masterpiece? My

grandfather is a carpenter and he often makes bookshelves, lamps, and toys at the

request of the people in his community. To do so, he does not want to overcharge the

people by buying excessive amount of wood. He needs to know exactly how much

wood is necessary to create the item. That is a simple thing to calculate when he is

making square, or rectangular objects such as a bookshelf or a jewelry box, but if he

desired to do a fancy design for a lamp stand as outlined in figure one, he could use

calculus and solids of revolution.

Figure 1. Lamp Stand

Solids of revolution are exactly what they sound like. A solid, such as a triangle,

or square can be rotated around an axis to create an object with volume. On the left

side of figure two, there is a 2-dimensional square located at the origin of the x- and

y-axis. On the right side, the object has been rotated around the y-axis and has formed

a cylinder, a 3-dimensional object.

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Figure 2. A Revolved Solid

This is a solid that has been revolved. Parabolas, or even regular functions can

also be used to create 3-dimensional objects. However, to begin, the area under the

function must be found.

To find the area under the curve of a parabola or function, calculus is extremely

helpful, specifically, the definite integral is. The definite integral is the opposite of a

derivative. Instead of deriving the function, the process is reversed and the integral, or

original function is found. To find the integral, the area under a function is computed by

breaking the area up into shapes with areas that are easy to find such as triangles, or in
b
most cases, rectangles. The proper notation for the integral is ∫ f (x)(dx) , where a is the
a

starting point of the area that is being taken, b is the ending point, f(x) is the function

that is being integrated and is the height of the rectangle, and dx is the width of each

rectangle we are taking to calculate the integral. Width multiplied by height is the area

equation. Find the area of each rectangle and add them together to get the integral. An

example is shown below.

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Figure 3. Example of Proper Notation

3
The proper notation for the graph shown in figure three is​ ∫(2x)/3(dx). This can be
1

demonstrated with a distance-time function and a velocity-time graph as well. If the area

is added up under the velocity-time function from x=0 to x=4 (a=0, b=4) graph is 4 units,

the distance at x=4 is 4 meters, as shown in figure three. This is true since the

distance-time graph is the integral of the velocity-time graph. The integral of f’(x) from a

specific value (​a​) to a specific value (​b​) is equal to the value of f(x) at the specific value

(​b​).
b
f(x)=x f’(x)=1 ∫ f (x)(dx)
a
@x=4
4
f(x)=4 ∫ x(dx) = 4
0

Figure 4. Distance-Time Function and Velocity-Time Graph

This was a simple rectangle and could easily be computed. Parabolas are harder

to compute, but the same process is used. The parabola is split into many rectangles,

the area of each rectangle is computed by multiplying the base, dx, with the height, f(x),
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and then added together to get the integral. The same concept can be used to calculate

the area between two curves or functions.

To begin, find equations of the curves, and the two points that they intersect at.

Then determine the area beneath the curve that is farthest from the axis that the dy or

dx cut is made to. Subtract the area of the the curve closer to that same axis, as shown

in figure five. All that is left is the area between the curves.

Figure 5. Subtracting Integrals

Three examples are shown in figure six below. The one on the right illustrates a

dx cut, the middle a simplified version, and the left a dy cut. All the examples use the

same intersection points.

y=x2​ ​+2 x=sqrt(y-2)

y=2x+2 x=(y-2)/2

(0,0) (2,6)
b
∫ f (x)(dx)
a
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dx cut simplified dy cut simplified

2 2 6
∫ 2x + 2(dx) − ∫ x2 + 2(dx) 2x + 2 − (x2 + 2) ∫ √y − 2 − ((y − 2)/2)(dy)
0 0 2
2
= 4/3 =− x + 2x => ∫− x2 + 2x(dx)
2
= 4/3
0

= 4/3

Figure 6. Examples of How To Find Area

Moving on from finding the area of different shapes and back to the shapes being

revolved around axis to form solids, the volume of objects can be found using similar

methods. However, we are not cutting the solids into rectangles because rectangles are

flat objects, or 2-dimensional. The solids need to be cut into 3-dimensional objects.

Referring back to figure two, the square was rotated to form a cylinder, and cylinders

can be sliced into many disks stacked on top of each other to find the volume. Slicing

solids into manageable shapes such as disks, rings, or shells makes it easy for the

volume to be found. It is similar to the area equation cut described above. The dx cut

was the width of the rectangle, f(x) was the height. Multiply the two and you get area.

Substitute the volume equation for disks, rings, or shells where the area equation goes

and you get the volume of the 2-dimensional object that has been revolved, or the

3-dimensional object. An example is shown below in figure seven of the shaded region

being revolved around the x-axis..

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V=𝜋r​2​h => dv=𝜋r​2​(dx)

y=x​2​+1 a=0 b=2

b
∫ πr2 (dx) dx=h r=y=x​2​+1
a

2
2
∫ π(x2 + 1) (dx) = 13.73𝜋
0

Figure 7. Volume of the Shaded Region

The equation V=𝜋r​2​h was used to find the volume of each disk that the shaded

region was split into after it was revolved. Substitutions were made to find what should

be plugged into the integral equation.

The axis that the shaded region is being revolved around is critical to finding the

correct volume. Depending on the distance from the axis, the volume of an object can

be larger or smaller than calculations that do not factor the axis into the equation. The

same example from figure seven is used in figure eight, but the shaded region is being

revolved around y=1.

V=𝜋r​2​h => dv=𝜋r​2​(dx)

y=x​2​+1 y=1 x​2​+1-1=x​2​ a=0 b=2

b
∫ π(r2 − r2 )(dx) dx=h r=y=x​2​ and r=1
a

2
2
∫ π[(x2 ) − (1)2 ](dx) = 4.4𝜋
0

Figure 8. Factoring in the Distance to the Axis

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As shown, the axis of rotation is y=1. When the axis was factored in, the equation

for the radius of the disks changed to x​2​. The other radius that needed to be factored in

was the distance from the x-axis to the new axis of rotation.

Another method for finding the volume of an object is cutting the object into slabs

whose volume can be easily computed. Given the region bounded by functions, the

volume of a solid can be found using a specific shape at every cross section

perpendicular to the x-axis, and a given point or side of the shape. An example is shown

in figure nine.

V=bhw b=h=2y y​2​=x

dv=bh(dx) 2y*2y(dx)=4y​2​(dx)=4x(dx)
b 9
∫ bh(dx) ∫ 4x(dx) =162 units​3
a 0

Figure 9. How to Compute Volume Using Slabs

Given a region bounded by x=y​2​ and x=9, a square shape, and the points

(x,sqrt(x)), and (x,-sqrt(x)), the volume of each slab was calculated by multiplying the

base of the square, by its height, and the width (dx) of the cross section. The integral

was taken to find the volume. Other shapes can be used to form different objects, so

long as the correct volume formula is used to compute the volume. This method also

requires critical thinking skills to determine correct lengths to compute the volume of the

slabs.
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Condensed examples for finding the area bounded by functions, finding the

volume of a solid around an axis, and finding the volume using slabs can be found in

Appendix A. Further explanation can be found above as to how to compute these

answers. Every decent craftsman uses critical thinking skills. They are always

necessary, even outside of finding volume and area, and should take precedence

before undergoing any project.

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Appendix A

This appendix contains condensed examples for finding the area bounded by

functions, finding the volume of a solid around an axis, and finding the volume using

slabs. The functions y= √x and y=x/3 define the region that the following problems

revolve around. The points of intersection are the origin, and (9,3).To begin, the area of

the region is computed in figure one.

y= √x y=x/3
b
∫ f (x)(dx)
a
9 9
∫ √x(dx) − ∫ x/3(dx)
0 0
9
∫ √x − x/3(dx) =4.5 units​2
0

Figure 1. Finding Area Using a dx Cut, Simplified

This figure shows the area inside the bounded region and how to compute it. The

linear function is subtracted from the square root function because it is closer to the axis

that the cut is being made from. To see another example of this, go to page four and

five. The next example is finding the volume of the same region described above when

it is rotated around y=-2.

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y= √x -x/3
Axis of rotation y=-2
V=𝜋r​2​h => dv=𝜋r​2​(dx)
y=y √x -x/3+2 a=0 b=9
b
∫ π(r2 − r2 )(dx) dx=h r=y= √x -x/3-2 and r=-2
a
9
∫ π[(√x + 2)2 − (x/3 + 2)2 ](dx) = 31.5 π units​3
0

Figure 2. Volume of a Solid

This figure demonstrates how to find the volume of a solid when it is rotated

around an axis that is not the x- or y-axis. See pages six, and seven for further details

on how to compute this problem. The next problem asks to find the volume given the

region above, and isosceles right triangles with one leg as the base, perpendicular to

the x-axis.

V=0.5bhw b=h=y
dv=0.5bh(dx) y= √x -x/3

0.5y​2​(dx)=0.5( √x -x/3)​2​(dx)

b
∫ 0.5bh(dx)
a
9
∫ 0.5(√x − x/3) 2 (dx) =1.35 units​3
0

Figure 3. Volume Using Isosceles Right Triangles

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This figure demonstrates how to find the volume of an object using the slab

methods described on page seven. However, the volume was modified to fit the

isosceles right triangles and the region that was bounded. Critical thinking is necessary

to compute these types of problems.