Why does the formula of a cylinder for volume work?

Answer 1

Pretend you have a soup can in front of you. That is a cylinder. Now, pretend you are cutting off both ends, which are circles. Now, with the leftover body part, unfold it, so it resembles a rectangle. Now you have circles and triangles.

Now, use the rectangular area formula (Area=Base X Height) and find the area of the rectangle.

Now, use the circular area formula (Pi [3.14] X Radius [Half the diameter]2) and multiply that by 2 (because of the 2 circles, top and bottom). Add the rectangular and circular (the doubled total) together and you have the area of the cylinder. I hope this helped!