OBJECTIVES:

1) Review and master how to find the area of any plane and composite plane
figures

INTRODUCTION

Solid Mensuration deals primarily with the various solids. The formulas developed in
this text are used extensively in railway engineering, in road and bridge construction,
in chemical and physical analyses, and in a large variety of commercial and
engineering projects.

Suggested Steps in Computing Solid Mensuration Problems

1. Draw an appropriate figure on which all dimensions are shown.

2. Write down all formulas by means of which the unknown quantities are to be
found.
3. Be sure that your work is arranged so that it can be followed at any time by
yourself or another person.
4. In many problems, it is helpful to employ literal quantities to denote numerical
values in carrying on the work.
5. In completing a problem, it is necessary finally to replace these literal quantities
by the numbers they represent.

MENSURATION OF PLANE FIGURES

A large part of the work in Solid mensuration has to do with the computation of
surface areas and the volumes of solids. In this connection it is frequently
necessary to pass a plane through a solid to form a plane section, find the area
of this section, and multiply it by the length of a line. Thus it is important for
you to be thoroughly familiar with the mensuration of the standard plane
figures. For this reason you should carefully review the following list of formulas
relating to plane figures.
 Circle

Sector of a circle

Segment of a circle
Arc Length

Similar Figures

Similar polygons are polygons that have their homologous angles equal
and their homologous sides proportional. In general, corresponding lines of
similar figures are in the same ratio. Similar polygons have the same ratio as the
squares of any two corresponding lines.

Example 1. Figure 1

The section (see figure 1) of a certain solid is bounded by

two concentric circles whose radii are 6.1 ft (black) and
4.1ft. (red). Find the area of the shaded region .

Solution. Let and denote the area of the larger and

smaller circles, respectively. Using the formula for the area of a circle, we have

Givens: Givens:
r = 6.1 ft r = 4.1 ft
Solution: Solution:
Substitute the givens to the formula Substitute the givens to the formula

To find the area of shaded region ( )

-

= 64.08864
Activity 1.

The section of a certain solid consists of a semicircle,

a rectangle and a triangle, as shown. The altitude of
the rectangle is three times the radius of the
semicircle, the altitude of the triangle is twice the
same radius, and the area of the triangle is 20 .
Find the area of the figure.

Activity 2.

A city block is in the form of a parallelogram whose shorter

diagonal AB is perpendicular to side BC, as shown in figure
3. The shorter sides represent streets and the longer sides
represent avenues. If the distance between the avenues is
400 ft and the length of each street is 500 ft., find the area of
the block.

Exercises:

Solve the following problems. Show your solution in a separate sheet of paper

1. Find the area of the largest circle which can be cut from a square of edge 4
inches. What is the area of the materials wasted?

2. The plane area shown in the figure consists of an isosceles trapezoid and a
segment of a circle. If the non-parallel sides are tangent to the segment at
points A and B, find the area of the composite figure.

Figure
Figure44

3. Find the area of the rectilinear figure shown, if it is the difference between
two isosceles trapezoids whose corresponding sides are parallel.
 Answers Key:

Activity 1.

Solution. Let , and denote the area of the triangle, rectangle, and
semicircle, respectively. Using formulas listed in this article under the
appropriate headings, we find in terms of r
Semicircle is half of a circle, so

Givens: Givens: Givens:

b =3x Diameter: d = 2x
h = 2x ft h = 2x Radius is half of diameter: r = x
b = 2x ft
Solution: Solution: Solution:
Substitute the givens Substitute the givens to Substitute the givens to the
to the formula to find the formula formula
x

Since the value of Since the value of x=10ft, we

x=10ft, we have, have,

Therefore,

To find the area of the figure , we will add all the 3 planes formed.

= 95.708

Acitivity 2.

Solution. From B drop the perpendicular BD to line AC. Since BD by construction is

the distance between the avenues, we have, BD = 400

Applying the Pythagorean Theorem to right triangle BDC, we obtain,

√ = 300

Since the sides of angle DBC are respectively perpendicular to the sides of angle BAC,
then angle DBC = angle BAC. Hence right triangle DBC and BAC are similar.
Consequently, we can get the value of side AB by

Considering BC as base and AB as altitude of the parallelogram, we have for its area
using the formula: A = bh

37, 037