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
Surface area a certain class of surfaces that satisfies several natural requirements. The most fundamental property of the surface area is its additivity: "the area of the whole is the sum of the areas of the parts". More rigorously, if a surface "S" is a union of finitely many pieces "S", …, "S" which do not overlap except at their boundaries, then Surface areas of flat polygonal shapes must agree with their geometrically defined area. Since surface area is a geometric notion, areas of congruent surfaces must be the same and the area must depend only on the shape of the surface,