Surface of revolution never negative, the area is given by If the curve is described by the function , , then the integral becomes for revolution around the -axis, and for revolution around the "y"-axis (using ). These come from the above formula. For example, the spherical surface with unit radius is generated by the curve , , when ranges over . Its area is therefore For the case of the spherical curve with radius , rotated about the -axis A minimal surface of revolution is the surface of revolution of the curve between two given points which minimizes surface area. A basic
Cylinder . The area of the side is known as the "", . An "open cylinder" does not include either top or bottom elements, and therefore has surface area (lateral area) The surface area of the solid right circular cylinder is made up the sum of all three components: top, bottom and side. Its surface area is therefore, where is the diameter of the circular top or bottom. For a given volume, the right circular cylinder with the smallest surface area has . Equivalently, for a given surface area, the right circular cylinder with the largest volume has , that is,