(Hint: Think about rolling a rectangular piece of paper into the shape of a cylinder.) Discuss your approach and why it works.

Question

In this unit, you calculated the surface area of solid figures composed of polygons, such as rectangles and triangles. But imagine finding the surface area of a cylinder—a solid figure that has several curved surfaces. A cylinder is made up of two circular bases and a curved (lateral) surface in between. Develop a formula for finding the surface area of the outside of a cylinder based on what you know about the circumference of a circle and the areas of circles and rectangles. (Hint: Think about rolling a rectangular piece of paper into the shape of a cylinder.) Discuss your approach and why it works.

Answer 1

If you "unroll" a cylinder, you have a rectangle. Take a piece of paper, like it says. You know how to find the area of it. Now roll it like s cylinder. How does it compare??