z

Young Writers Society


Volumes by the Method of Cross Sections



User avatar
504 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 5890
Reviews: 504
Tue Nov 28, 2006 4:53 pm
Dream Deep says...



*wherever the variables a or b are mentioned, they refer to the integral existance theorem, where 'If f is continuous on [a,b], then f is integrable on [a,b]'.

*dark blue text represents the equation or theorem, dark red represents notes in the midst.



The directions are:

Find the volume of the solid that is generated by rotating around the indicated axis the plane region bounded by the given curves.

Indeed. The problem:

y=x^2, y=0, x=1; the x-axis


So that's all I get to work with. And I'm not doing such a fine job of finding the volume of the solid. If it helps at all, the central theorem of the lesson was "The Definition of Volume by Cross Sections":

If the solid R lies alongside the interval [a,b] on the x-axis and has continuous cross sectional area function A(x), then its volume V=v(R) is V=∫ (where 'b' and 'a' remain in variable form) A(x) dx.

Any thoughts? o0
  





User avatar
915 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 890
Reviews: 915
Wed Nov 29, 2006 3:36 pm
Incandescence says...



DD--


How is it you are setting up your problem?

Take the curve y=x^2, y=0, and y=1. You should see that the volume you are solving for is a (funky-shaped) "ring." So the question is now: which axis are you rotating about? If you rotate about x, you use the dx integral; y, the dy integral.

So our solution is of the form: V(x)=∫A(x)dx.

How do we define our area function?

A(x)=pi*r^2. Well, let's look to our problem statement. We know the radius here is not a constant, but a variable that varies according to the function y=x^2. So let's substitute by A(x)=pi*(x^2)^2=pi*x^4. Now let's re-set up our integral.

V(x)=pi*∫_0^1(x^4)dx.


Don't you know how to solve that?
"If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders." -Hal Abelson
  





User avatar
504 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 5890
Reviews: 504
Wed Nov 29, 2006 5:01 pm
Dream Deep says...



Thanks a lot for the help, Brad... the answer key informs me that the outcome should be pi/5... o0

I think I'll work off of your explanation to simplify it out. My problem was set up in a real mess - you don't want to know, it would put you in cardiac arrest.

Thanks again, Brad, for the pointers. ^_~
  





User avatar
863 Reviews

Supporter


Gender: Male
Points: 2090
Reviews: 863
Wed Nov 29, 2006 8:09 pm
Griffinkeeper says...



Then it is around the x axis.

∫A(x)dx.

∫ pi (x)^2 dx

We have the lines y=0 and y=x^2, which means that we have a parabola and with the lower boundary of the x-axis.

We're given that x=1. This means that x goes from the y-axis to x=1.

Since it is in terms of x, then the integral goes from 0 to 1.

Therefore.

∫ pi (x^2)^2 dx. (0<x<1)

pi ∫ x^4 dx (0<x<1)

(pi x^5)/5 (0<x<1)

((pi*1^5)/5- (pi*0^5)/5)

Simplified, we get pi/5.
Moderator Emeritus (frozen in carbonite.)
  





User avatar
504 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 5890
Reviews: 504
Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:32 pm
Dream Deep says...



Hey, thanks a lot, Grif. ^_~

Without the two of you I would be very, very dead concerning this lesson. Calculus and I don't like each other. Thanks for the aid. ^_^
  





User avatar
64 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 1040
Reviews: 64
Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:57 am
Mr. Everyone says...



You could most probably find help on wikipedia, or do forum search, =) good luck and =)happy reading(=
~Everyone~

=) *wave*
  








This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much all of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.
— Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy