How to Calculate the Volume of a Cylinder

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A cylinder is a simple cube whose bases are two parallel and congruent circles. If you want to calculate the volume of a cylinder, all you need to do is figure out its height (h) and radius (r), and then substitute the formula: V = hπr ² .

Table of Contents

Calculating the Volume of a Cylinder

Image titled Calculate the Vpume of a Cylinder Step 1

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Find the base radius. You can choose any bottom face to calculate because they are equal. If you already know the radius, you can take the next step. If the radius is not known, measure the widest distance on the circle and divide the result by 2. This will give a more accurate result than measuring half the diameter. Assuming the radius of the circle is 2.5 cm, write down the result.

If the diameter of the circle is known, just divide it by 2.
If you know the circumference, then divide that number by 2π to get the radius measure.

Image titled Calculate the Vpume of a Cylinder Step 2

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Calculate the area of the base of the circle. To do this, simply use the formula for the area of a circle, A = πr ² . Substitute the measure of the radius into the formula as follows:

A = x 2.5 ² =
A = π x 6.25.
Since is approximately 3.14 when rounded to 2 decimal places, the area of the base circle is 19.63 cm ^2.

Image titled Calculate the Vpume of a Cylinder Step 3

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Find the height of the cylinder. If you already know your height, move on to the next step, if not, use a ruler to measure. The height of the cylinder is the distance between the two bases on the side. For example, we have a cylinder height of 10 cm, write this number out first. In the example image above, the value is taken as 4 inches, you can project according to that value.

Image titled Calculate the Vpume of a Cylinder Step 4

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Multiply the area of the base by the height. You can think of the volume of a cylinder simply as the volume where the base areas are stacked up to the height of the cylinder. Since we already know the area of the base of the cylinder is 19.63 cm ² and the height is 10 cm, now just multiply them together to get the volume of the cylinder. 19.63 cm ² x 10 cm = 196.3 cm ³ This is your final answer.

Always represent your unit as a cube because we are making the measurement in 3D space.

Advice

Make sure you have the correct measurements.
Do lots of practice exercises so that when you put it into practice you will know what you should do.
It will be easier if you use a computer.
As a general rule, the volume of an object is equal to the area of the base times the height of the object. (However, in some cases this is incorrect, e.g. cones).
Remember that diameter is the largest chord in a circle or circle, in other words the largest possible measurement between two points on the circle or circle. Pick an edge of the circle that lies at the zero mark of the ruler/ruler, and make the largest possible measurement without shifting the zero point, which is the diameter measurement.
It would be easier to find the diameter and then divide it by 2 to find the exact radius without having to specify the center of the circle.
Once you’ve figured out the area of the base, think of multiplying by the height as adding the base to the height. In other words, you’re simply “stacking” the rounded bottoms until the height is exhausted, and once that’s worked out, that’s your volume.
The volume of the cylinder is calculated by the formula V = πr ² h, and π is approximately equal to 22/7.

Steps

Calculating the Volume of a Cylinder

Advice

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