Section 6.

4: Arc Length and

Surface Area
Elementary geometry doesnt help to find the
length of a curve that wiggles like this.

So, lets break it into pieces we can work with.

Arc Length:

y s 2 x 2 y 2
x
2
y 2 2
y
s x y
2 2
1 2 x 1 x
x x

y dy dy
Idea : Reason MVT f '( xk* )
x dx dx
b
Arc length= 1 f ' x dx
2

a
Eg. Find the length of f ( x) sin x, 0 x

l 1 cos x dx
2

0
 Eg. Find the length of f ( x) x on [0,3]
2

3
l 1 2 x dx
2

2
9
1
Or, f (y) = y on [0,9] l 1 dy
2 y
0
Area of a Surface of Revolution:

An element is a frustum of a cone which has surface area

r r
r1
r2 F 2 1 2 l 2 f ( xk* )l
2

b
Surface area=2 f ( x) 1 f ' x dx
2

a
Example: Find surface area when the graph of x 2 is rotated about

a) the x-axis

9 3
S 2 ( x ) 1 2 x dx
2 2

0 3
Example: Find surface area when the graph of x 2 is rotated about
a) the line y = - 4

9
x2
3
S= 2 ( x 4) 1 2 x dx
2 2

0
3

-4
Example: Find surface area when the graph of x 2 is rotated about
a) the line y = 15

15

9
x2 3
S= 2 (15 x ) 1 2 x dx
2 2

0
3