Surface area Surface area The surface area of a solid object is a measure of the total area that the surface of the object occupies. The mathematical definition of surface area in the presence of curved surfaces is considerably more involved than the definition of arc length of one-dimensional curves, or of the surface area for polyhedra (i.e., objects with flat polygonal faces), for which the surface area is the sum of the areas of its faces. Smooth surfaces, such as a sphere, are assigned surface area using their representation as parametric surfaces. This definition of surface area is based on methods
Gabriel's Horn diameter of the throat of the horn. The converse phenomenon of Gabriel's horn – a surface of revolution that has a "finite" surface area but an "infinite" volume – cannot occur: Let be a continuously differentiable function. Write for the solid of revolution of the graph about the -axis. "If the surface area of is finite, then so is the volume." Since the lateral surface area is finite, the limit superior: Therefore, there exists a such that the supremum } is finite. Hence, Finally, the volume: Therefore: "if the area is finite, then the volume must also be finite." Gabriel's