# Software to graph a volume (solid) of revolution?

1. Nov 27, 2009

### zdenton

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data
I am writing a paper on volumes of revolution. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any suitable programs to represent them graphically. (I apologize if I am posting in the wrong forum.)

2. Relevant equations
Graphing the volume of revolution of, say, $$\pi\int_{0}^{1}\left(x^{2}\right)^{2}\, dx$$

3. The attempt at a solution
I tried using Gnuplot, but wasn't able to graph a volume of revolution.

2. Nov 27, 2009

### Staff: Mentor

You didn't say what you entered in Gnuplot as the equation to be graphed. For your problem, you want to graph the portion of the paraboloid z = x2 + y2 that is bounded by the planes z = 0 and z = 1.

3. Nov 27, 2009

### zdenton

Thanks for the response. I had tried to literally graph $$z=\pi\int_{0}^{1}\left(x^{2}\right)^{2}\, dx$$ ... but I hadn't realized that that is a constant. (doh!)

Anyway, after seeing the output from Gnuplot, I think I'll just eschew the use of graphs of volumes of revolution in my paper.

Last edited: Nov 27, 2009