The disc method is a way to find the volume by rotating around the x- or y-axis. In this situation, we will find the volume by adding up a bunch of infinitely thin circles.ย
Letโs look at the region between the curve y = โx and the x-axis from x = 0 and x = 1.ย
If you rotate this region around the x-axis, the cross sections will be circles with radii โx. Thus, the area of each cross section will be ฯ(โx)^2 or ฯx. Now we can integrate ฯx from x = 0 and x = 1 to get the volume.ย
Now, letโs generalize this. If you have a region whose area is bounded by the curve y = f(x) and the x-axis on the interval [a,b], each disk has a radius of f(x), and the area of the disk will beย ย
ฯ[f(x)]2
To find the volume, evaluate the integral.ย
Now, you try to use the formula with this example problem:ย
If rotate the function y = x + 2 about the x-axis from x = 0 to x = 2, what is the volume of the figure?ย
Answer: 58.643
Solution:ย In this example, your function is y = x + 2 which looks like this:ย