Formula
Volume of a right circular cylinder
Mensuration • Solids • Cylinder
Formula
A right circular cylinder of base radius and height has volume .
How to use it
- 1Halve a given diameter first; the formula takes the radius.
- 2Where and are given as a ratio, write both through one multiplier so that the volume becomes a single cubic in .
- 3Take when a radius is a multiple of , which is what makes these volumes come out whole.
Worked example
A cylindrical tank has radius m and height m. Find its volume.
Step-by-step
- 1
Why: The in the radius cancels the denominator of .
- 2m
Answer
m
Watch out
The volume scales as but only as , so doubling the radius quadruples the capacity while doubling the height merely doubles it. A hollow pipe's volume of material is the difference of two such cylinders, not one of them.