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
Platonic solid by where "θ" is the dihedral angle. The midradius "ρ" is given by where "h" is the quantity used above in the definition of the dihedral angle ("h" = 4, 6, 6, 10, or 10). Note that the ratio of the circumradius to the inradius is symmetric in "p" and "q": The surface area, "A", of a Platonic solid {"p", "q"} is easily computed as area of a regular "p"-gon times the number of faces "F". This is: The volume is computed as "F" times the volume of the pyramid whose base is a regular "p"-gon and whose height is