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
Gabriel's Horn using Cavalieri's principle before the invention of calculus, but today calculus can be used to calculate the volume and surface area of the horn between and , where . Using integration (see Solid of revolution and Surface of revolution for details), it is possible to find the volume and the surface area : The surface area formula above gives a lower bound for the area as 2 times the natural logarithm of . There is no upper bound for the natural logarithm of as approaches infinity. That means, in this case, that the horn has an infinite surface area. That