Cylindrical Coordinates -- A Little Geometry

To find the area of each of the sections of the disk used in this module we begin with the formula for the area of a disk of radius A

A = Pi A2

Now the area of a ring whose inner radius is A and whose outer radius is B is

Pi B2 - Pi A2 = Pi (B + A) (B - A)

When we divide this ring into n equal section, the area of each section is

Pi (B + A) (B - A) / n

The formula in this module follows from the observations that

Missing equation


Copyright c 1997 by Frank Wattenberg, Department of Mathematics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717