[Math] Looking for where I went wrong: Finding the volume of a solid that lies within both a cylinder and sphere

calculusintegrationmultiple integralmultivariable-calculusvolume

I'm currently working on this question:

Find the volume of the solid that lies within both the cylinder $x^2+y^2=1$ and the sphere $x^2+y^2+z^2=4$.

I decided to use polar coordinates so that the cylinder equation becomes $r^2=1$ and the sphere becomes $r^2+z^2=4$.

Solving for $z$, I get the inequality $-\sqrt{4-r^2}\leq z\leq \sqrt{4-r^2}$. Since I know what $r^2$ is, I plug that in to get the inequality where $z$ is between $-\sqrt{3}$ and $\sqrt{3}$. Combining that to make a triple integral, I get:

$$\int_0^{2\pi}\int_0^1\int_{-\sqrt{3}}^\sqrt{3}r\,\mathrm{d}z\,\mathrm{d}r\,\mathrm{d}\theta$$

However, Slader has a different answer where they didn't plug in $\sqrt{3}$ into the bounds. Why does plugging in the value for $r^2$ make the calculation wrong? Isn't $r^2$ always $1$?

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Best Answer

“Isn’t $r^2$ always 1?”

Yes, on the surface of the cylinder.

But you aren’t integrating on the surface of the cylinder. You’re integrating over a three-dimensional region, namely the one bounded by both the cylinder and the sphere. This region is described in cylindrical coordinates as the set with

$$r\in[0,1]$$ $$\theta\in[0,2\pi)$$ $$z\in\left[-\sqrt{4-r^2}, \sqrt{4-r^2}\right]$$