Circular sector 2026-10-18
A circular sector is the portion of a disc between two radii and the connecting circle arc. If its radius is and its central angle is radians, its area is
Indeed, polar coordinates give . The full disc corresponds to , a semicircle to , and a quarter-disc to . In a solid with horizontal sector cross-sections, radius and angle , its volume is . Holding the angles and heights fixed while scaling every radius by a factor scales that volume by .
The two labelled regions in the original diagram are complementary circular sectors. Their areas add to and satisfy , so . The sector with central angle has area . Hence
At each height, the removed circular sector has the same angle and of the original radius. Its area and hence its volume are therefore multiplied by . Equating the removed volume to that of the reformed solid sphere gives
Consequently
At height , the circular sector has radius and angle . Its area is , so slicing by horizontal cross-sections gives the volume integral
Use the substitution rule . Then
An integration by parts gives the antiderivative , whose endpoint difference is . Therefore