Surface Area

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SAT Math › Surface Area

Questions 1 - 10

The slant height of a cone is ; the diameter of its base is one-fifth its slant height. Give the surface area of the cone in terms of .

$\frac{11\pi L^{2}}{100}$

$\frac{6\pi L^{2}}{25}$

$\frac{ \pi L^{2}}{10}$

$\frac{ \pi L^{2}}{5}$

$\frac{ \pi L^{2}}{20}$

Explanation

The formula for the surface area of a cone with base of radius and slant height is

$A = \pi r^{2} + \pi r L$ .

The diameter of the base is $\frac{1}{5}L$ ; the radius is half this, so

$r = \frac{1}{2} \cdot \frac{1}{5}L= \frac{1}{10}L$

Substitute in the surface area formula:

$A = \pi \left ( \frac{1}{10}L \right ) ^{2} + \pi \left ( \frac{1}{10}L \right ) L$

$A = \frac{1}{100} \pi L^{2} + \frac{1}{10} \pi L^{2}$

$A = \frac{1}{100} \pi L^{2} + \frac{10}{100} \pi L^{2}$

$A = \frac{11}{100} \pi L^{2} = \frac{11\pi L^{2}}{100}$

Find the surface area of a sphere with a radius of 3.

$36\pi$

$27\pi$

$72\pi$

$18\pi$

$48\pi$

Explanation

Write the formula for the surface area of a sphere.

$A=4\pi r^2$

Substitute the radius into the equation.

$A=4\pi(3)^2 = 4\pi (9) = 36\pi$

The answer is: $36\pi$

The surface area of cone $\small E$ is $\small 70\pi$ . If the radius of the base of the cone is , what is the height of the cone?

$\small \small 2\sqrt{14}$

$\small 45$

$\small 9$

$\small 3$

$\small 2\sqrt{5}$

Explanation

To figure out $\small h$ , we must use the equation for the surface area of a cone, $\small A=\pi r^2+\pi rs$ , where $\small r$ is the radius of the base of the cone and $\small s$ is the length of the diagonal from the tip of the cone to any point on the base's circumference. We therefore first need to solve for $\small s$ by plugging what we know into the equation:

$\small 70\pi=(5^2)\pi +5s\pi=25\pi +5s\pi$

This equation can be reduced to:

$\small 45\pi=5s\pi$

$\small 9=s$

For a normal right angle cone, $\small s$ represents the line from the tip of the cone running along the outside of the cone to a point on the base's circumference. This line represents the hypotenuse of the right triangle formed by the radius and height of the cone. We can therefore solve for $\small h$ using the Pythagorean theorem:

$\small s^2 = r^2+h^2$

$\small h=\sqrt{s^2-r^2}$

Our $\small h$ is therefore:

$\small h=\sqrt{9^2-5^2}=\sqrt{81-25}=\sqrt{56}=2\sqrt{14}$

The height of cone $\small E$ is therefore $\small 2\sqrt{14}$

What is the surface area of the following cone?

$\pi$

Explanation

The formula for the surface area of a cone is:

$\pi$ $\pi$ ,

where represents the radius of the cone base and represents the slant height of the cone.

Plugging in our values, we get:

$\pi$ $\pi$

$\pi$

The lateral area is twice as big as the base area of a cone. If the height of the cone is 9, what is the entire surface area (base area plus lateral area)?

27π

54π

81π

9π

90π

Explanation

Lateral Area = LA = π(r)(l) where r = radius of the base and l = slant height

LA = 2B

π(r)(l) = 2π(r2)

rl = 2r2

l = 2r

Cone

From the diagram, we can see that r2 + h2 = l2. Since h = 9 and l = 2r, some substitution yields

r2 + 92 = (2r)2

r2 + 81 = 4r2

81 = 3r2

27 = r2

B = π(r2) = 27π

LA = 2B = 2(27π) = 54π

SA = B + LA = 81π

A water tank takes the shape of a closed rectangular prism whose exterior has height 30 feet, length 20 feet, and width 15 feet. Its walls are one foot thick throughout. What is the total surface area of the interior of the tank?

$2,204 \textrm{ ft}^{2}$

$2,446\textup{ ft}^{2}$

$1,102\textrm{ ft}^{2}$

$1,223 \textrm{ ft}^{2}$

$2,694\textup{ ft}^{2}$

Explanation

The height, length, and width of the interior tank are each two feet less than the corresponding dimension of the exterior of the tank, so the dimensions of the interior are 28, 18, and 13 feet. The surface area of the interior is what we are looking for here. It comprises six rectangles:

Two with area $28 \times 18 = 504$ square feet;

Two with area $28 \times 13 = 364$ square feet;

Two with area $18 \times 13 = 234$ square feet.

Add:

$2 \times 504 + 2 \times 364 + 2 \times 234 = 1,008 + 728 + 468 = 2,204$ square feet.

If the surface area of a right angle cone $\small A$ is $\small 48\pi$ , and the distance from the tip of the cone to a point on the edge of the cone's base is $\small 8$ , what is the cone's radius?

$16\pi$

Explanation

Solving this problem is going to take knowledge of Algebra, Geometry, and the equation for the surface area of a cone: $\small \small A=\pi r^2 + \pi r s$ , where $\small r$ is the radius of the cone's base and $\small s$ is the distance from the tip of the cone to a point along the edge of the cone's base. First, let's substitute what we know in this equation:

$\small \small 48\pi=\pi r^2 + \pi r (8)=\pi r^2 + 8\pi r$

We can divide out $\small \small \pi$ from every term in the equation to obtain:

$\small \small \small 48=r^2+8r\Rightarrow0=r^2+8r-48$

We see this equation has taken the form of a quadratic expression, so to solve for $\small r$ we need to find the zeroes by factoring. We therefore need to find factors of $\small \small -48$ that when added equal $\small \small 8$ . In this case, $\small -4$ and $\small \small 12$ :

$\small \small r^2+8r-48=(r+12)(r-4)$

This gives us solutions of $\small \small r=-12$ and $\small r=4$ . Since $\small r$ represents the radius of the cone and the radius must be positive, we know that $\small r=4$ is our only possible answer, and therefore the radius of the cone is $\small 4$ .

Use the following formula to answer the question.

$SA=\pi r^2+\pi rl$

The slant height of a right circular cone is . The radius is , and the height is . Determine the surface area of the cone.

$16\pi cm^2$

$24\pi cm^2$

$12\pi cm^2$

$18\pi cm^2$

$20\pi cm^2$

Explanation

Notice that the height of the cone is not needed to answer this question and is simply extraneous information. We are told that the radius is , and the slant height is .

First plug these numbers into the equation provided.

$SA=\pi r^2+\pi rl=\pi (2)^2+\pi (2)(6)=4\pi cm^2+12\pi cm^2$

Then simplify by combining like terms.

$4\pi cm^2+12\pi cm^2=16\pi cm^2$

The circumference of the base of a cone is 100; the height of the cone is equal to the diameter of the base. Give the surface area of the cone (nearest whole number).

Explanation

The formula for the surface area of a cone with base of radius and slant height is

$A = \pi r^{2} + \pi r l$ .

The diameter of the base is the circumference divided by $\pi$ , which is

$d = C \div (2\pi ) \approx 100 \div 3.14 \approx 31.83$

This is also the height .

The radius is half this, or

$r = d \div 2 \approx 31.83 \div 2 \approx 15.92$

The slant height can be found by way of the Pythagorean Theorem:

$l = \sqrt{r^{2}+ h ^{2}}$

$l \approx \sqrt{15.92^{2}+ 31.83 ^{2}}$

$l \approx \sqrt{253.30+ 1,013.21}$

$l \approx \sqrt{1266.51}$

$l \approx 35.60$

Substitute in the surface area formula:

$A = \pi r^{2} + \pi r l$

$A \approx 3.14 \cdot 15.92 ^{2} + 3.14 \cdot 15.92 \cdot 35.60$

$A \approx 795.8+ 1,780.1$

$A \approx 2,575$

The circumference of the base of a cone is 80; the slant height of the cone is equal to twice the diameter of the base. Give the surface area of the cone (nearest whole number).