This looks like the kind of integral where a sine substitution would be helpful,
and indeed it is. So we let x = r sin θ which gives us
dx
= r cos θ ⇒ dx = r cos θdθ
dθ
We also need to consider the change in limits when we make this substitution.
In this case the lower limit does not change since sine of zero is zero. But we
also need r = r sin θ and so this changes the upper limit to π2 and we are now
ready to write the integral after our substitution
Z π2 p
A= r2 − r2 sin θ r cos θ dθ
0
Z π
2 p
=r 2
1 − sin2 θ cos θ dθ
0
1
Z π
2
2
=r cos2 θ dθ
0
To find the integral of the square of cosine we remember the identity cos 2θ =
2 cos2 θ − 1, which we can rearrange to give cos2 θ = cos 2θ+1
2 , which we know
how to integrate. So we now have
Z π
2 cos 2θ + 1
A = r2 dθ
0 2
π2
2 1 θ
=r sin 2θ +
4 2 0
1
= πr2
4
Since A was chosen to be a quarter of the circle it follows that the area of the
circle is πr2 as required.
We now turn our attention to spheres and try to find an expression for the
surface area of a sphere. This is obtained by rotating the graph about the x-axis
and taking the surface area generated, and doubling it to get the surface area
of the whole sphere. I won’t cover the derivation of the formula for surface area
of revolution so you might want to look it up yourself. Nevertheless we arrive
at the integral
" # 21
Z r 2
dy
S = 2π y(x) +1 dx
0 dx
dy
We are required to find dx in this case (we may have considered parametric
equations also if we wanted). We have that
1
p
y(x) = r2 − x2 ⇒ y 0 (x) = −x(r2 − x2 )− 2
Squaring gives us
2
x2
dy
=
dx r 2 − x2
2
r 1
x2 r 2 − x2 2
Z p
= 2π r 2 − x2 + dx
0 r 2 − x2 r 2 − x2
Z rp
r
= 2π r −x √
2 2 dx
0 r 2 − x2
Z r
= 2π r dx
0
r
= 2π [rx]0
= 2πr2
Since, as we discussed, this only accounts for half of our sphere. It follows that
the surface area of the whole sphere is 4πr2 as required.
Finaly we look at the volume of the sphere. Not surprisingly, we rotate the
graph in the first quadrant a full revolution and find the numerical value using
the technique of finding the volume of revolution. Our volume for the whole
sphere is simply double this result. So we have
Z r
V = πy 2 dx
0
Z r
=π r2 − x2 dx
0
r
x3
2
=π r x−
3 0
1 2
= π r3 − r3 = πr3
3 3
However as discussed, this is only half of the volume, and so the total volume
of the sphere is 34 πr3 as required.