Surface area of a cylinder is the total area of its two congruent circular bases and its curved lateral surface, represented by the net of two circles and a rectangle, giving for radius and height . The quantities are interpreted in square units, with answers expressed exactly using or approximated appropriately; the diameter must be halved when a radius is required.
A cylinder has:
So, the total surface area is
where is the radius and is the height. The answer is always in square units.
Example: Find the surface area of a cylinder with diameter cm and height cm.
Therefore, the exact surface area is
Using , the surface area is approximately
So, the surface area is about .
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