How do you use the method of cylindrical shells to find the volume of the solid obtained by rotating the region bounded by y^2=8x and x=2 revolved about the x=4?

1 Answer
May 21, 2018

Please see below.

Explanation:

Here is a sketch of the region. To use shells, we'll take a representative slice parallel to the axis of rotation. (Parallel to the line x=4.)

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The slice is taken at some value of x.

The volume of the representative shell is 2pirhxx"thickness"

In this case,

"thickness" = dx

the radius r is shown as a dotted black line segment from the slice at x to the line at 4. So, r = 4-x

The height of the slice is the upper y value minus the lower y value.
Solving y^2=8x, we see that y_"upper" = sqrt(8x) and y_"lower" = -sqrt(8x).
So, h = sqrt(8x) - (-sqrt(8x)) = 2sqrt(8x)

The volume of the representative shell is 2pi(4-x)(2sqrt(8x))dx

x varies from 0 to 2, so the volume of the solid is

V = int_0^2 2 pi (4-x)(4sqrt(2x))dx

= 8pisqrt2 int_0^2 (4-x)sqrtx \ dx

= 896/15 pi