madcattle said:
Homework Statement
Find the surface area of that portion of the cylinder x2 + y2 = 16
that is above the region in the first quadrant bounded on the graphs of x=0, x=2, y=0, y=5
Aside: This is a terribly worded problem. No jibe against you. I can see by google search that you have expressed the problem verbatim. What cylinder? This is a plane figure. There's no cylinder here.
I know how to solve this via the coordinate system given, but it simplifies to 20∫02 1/(16-x2).5,
No, it doesn't. Show your work.
which means that I have to use the sin-1 formula, and this is not something I'd recognize to do on a test.
This is something you should be able to recognize on a test. On seeing an integral involving a^2+x^2, \sqrt{a^2+x^2}, a^2-x^2, or \sqrt{a^2-x^2} you should immediately think "trig substitution". You should also know the trig functions for simple angles such as 30° (pi/6), 45° (pi/4), and 60° (pi/3).
It helps to draw a picture. Draw a picture of this problem and you can cheat. This problem can be viewed as the sum of the area of two figures, a triangle with base 2 and height 2√3, and a circular sector of radius 4 and angle 30°. It's always a good idea in tests (and in real life!) to see if the problem can be solved with the simple techniques you learned years ago.
On a test the instructor just might want to see the calculus solution. Knowing the high school algebra answer is still worthwhile. It let's you know whether your calculus solution is correct.
BTW, the polar coordinates integral will give you the high school algebra solution, but via a convoluted path. The circular sector is trivial but the triangle is not.