SURFACE AREA

C4L7

1
LEARNING OUTCOME

At the end of the lesson students should be able to find the surface area
in 3 dimensional space.

2
REVISION

In Calculus, we have learned how to calculate the arc length of a curve described by the
function y f (x) for a x b in 2-dimensional space.
REVISION

When the arc length for a curve is described using parametric equations,
x f (t ), y g (t ) for at b
then the arc length is given by
SURFACE AREA

In 3-dimensional space, a function z f ( x, y ) where ( x, y ) R represents a

surface as shown in the diagram below:

Surface
area
In analogous to the arc length in 2-space the area of the surface in 3-space
is given by

A( S )
R
[ f x ( x, y )]2 [ f y ( x, y )]2 1 dA

and in partial derivatives form,

2
z z
2 Surface
A( S ) 1 dA area
R x y

where R is the region projected from

the surface onto the xy-plane.

6
 EXAMPLE 1

Find the area of the surface of the portion of the plane 2x+2y+z=8 in the first octant.

4
R y
4

x
Answer: 24 unit2 7
EXAMPLE 2

Find the area of the surface of the part of the plane z=2+3x+4y that lies above the rectangle [0,5] X [1,4].

4
R
1

0 5

15 26
EXAMPLE 3

Find the area of the surface for the part of the hyperbolic paraboloid z y 2 x2
that lies between the cylinders x2 y 2 1 & x2 y 2 4

Answer:

6
17 3
2
5
3
2

EXAMPLE 4

Find the surface area of the part of the surface z 1 3x 2 y 2

that lies above the triangle (0,0), (0,1) and (2,1).

(0,1) (2,1)
1 2y
y x 1

2
A( S ) 10 16 y 2 dx dy
0 0 0
EXAMPLE 5

The portion of the surface z = xy that is above the sector in the first quadrant bounded
1
by the line y x , y 0 and x 2 y 2 9.
3

1
y x
3

0
6 3
A( S )
0 0
1 r 2 r dr d
VECTOR FORM OF THE SURFACE

The surface equation can also be expressed in term of vector form:

r x(u, v)i y(u, v) j z(u, v)k
We now obtain a formula for the surface area of a parametric surface. Let x = u, y = v
and z = f(u, v), then the vector equation becomes

r xi yj zk ui vj f (u, v)k
VECTOR FORM OF THE SURFACE

And then we have r f z
i k i k
u u x

r f z
j k j k
v v y

i j k
Taking the cross
r r z z z
product 1 0 i jk
u v x x y
z
0 1
y
And its 2
z z
2
r r r r r r
magnitude is 1 ; S dA dudv
u v x y R
u v R
u v
VECTOR FORM OF THE SURFACE

We compare this result with the surface area formula, the surface area can be written
as
2
z z
2

S 1 dA
R x y

r r
dA
R
u v

r r
dudv
R
u v
EXAMPLE 6

Find the surface area for the surface r 3 sin u i 3 cos u j 2v k over the region
0 u 2 ; 1 v 2