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Volume of Solid of Revolution (Intro+ The Volume As A Double Integral)

The document presents a new method for calculating the volume of a solid of revolution using a double integral. This double integral approach unifies the classical "disk method" and "shell method" by showing they are both recovered through different applications of Fubini's theorem to the double integral. The method avoids considerations about the shape of the solid and provides an easy way to calculate volumes when the axis of revolution is neither horizontal nor vertical. It can also introduce students to techniques like double integration and polar coordinates.

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Chrisanne Gomes
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91 views3 pages

Volume of Solid of Revolution (Intro+ The Volume As A Double Integral)

The document presents a new method for calculating the volume of a solid of revolution using a double integral. This double integral approach unifies the classical "disk method" and "shell method" by showing they are both recovered through different applications of Fubini's theorem to the double integral. The method avoids considerations about the shape of the solid and provides an easy way to calculate volumes when the axis of revolution is neither horizontal nor vertical. It can also introduce students to techniques like double integration and polar coordinates.

Uploaded by

Chrisanne Gomes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction

• The computation of the volume of solids of revolution is a very common topic in undergraduate calculus courses.
Usually two
methods are presented in textbooks, namely:
1. The disk method, which roughly consists of decomposing the solid into
slices that are perpendicular to the axis of revolution.
2. The shell method, that considers the solid as a series of concentric
cylindrical shells wrapping the axis.
Geometrically, the two methods are completely different. And the shape of the solid motivates you to choose
between the two. or otherwise. However, from an analytical point of view, both methods are equivalent and can be
related using well-known formulas. Integration by parts [1], inverse functions [3] or even Rolle’s theorem [2] We
wondered if there was a deeper connection between the methods. We found this to be true.
In particular we present here a method to compute the volume of a solid of revolution as a
double integral in a very simple way. Then, we see that the classical methods
(disks and shells) are recovered if this double integral is computed by each of
the two possible applications of Fubini’s theorem.
The volume as a double integral
• Let S be a closed region of the plane OXY and let e be any straight line in the same plane such that e is exterior to S. For every
point P = (x, y) ∈ S, put de(x, y) = d(P, e) the distance from P to e. Let us denote by V (S, e) the volume of the solid obtained by
rotating the region S around the line e, see Figure 1.
• We claim that:

It is not the point here to give a complete and rigorous proof of this claim.
The underlying idea is in fact very simple. For every point P(x, y) ∈ S,
consider a tiny circle with center in P and with area dA (see the right hand
side of Figure 1). When this circle rotates around the axis e it generates
a torus of volume and then it is enough to sum up all these
volumes; i.e., to integrate over S.
Observe that de(x, y) is always a polynomial of degree 1 in x and y,
namely, if the axis e has equation
Conclusion
• We have presented a way to compute the volume of a solid of
revolution as a double integral. This method seems, as far a we
know, to be absent in the literature. In addition to its intrinsic
mathematical interest, we think that this method to compute the
volume of a solid of revolution might be of educational interest.
Specifically, some of its advantages are:
• 1. It avoids considerations about the shape of the solid.
• 2. It gives an easy way to describe the volume of the solid when
the axis of revolution is not horizontal neither vertical.
• 3. It introduces the use of double integration techniques (polar
coordinates, for instance) in some cases.

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