← Calculo
Solids of Revolution

The Shell Method

Rotate a region about the y-axis and build the solid from nested tin-can shells. Unroll one and it’s a flat sheet: 2π·radius·height·thickness — summed, that’s 2π∫x ƒ(x) dx.

each ring is a shell of radius x, height ƒ(x) · rotated about the y-axis
height ƒ(x) cylindrical shells