Welcome to our Area of a Sphere Calculator page.
We explain how to find the surface area of a sphere and provide a quick calculator to work it out for you, step-by-step.
There is also a separate calculator which will find the radius and diameter of a sphere, if you already know the surface area.
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We have two separate calculators for the area of a sphere.
Our first calculator will take a measurement for the radius or diameter of the sphere and find the surface area.
Our second calculator will take a surface area and find the radius and diameter of the sphere.
This calculator finds the surface area of a sphere when the radius or diameter is known.
This calculator finds the radius and diameter of the sphere when the surface area is known.
The formula for the area of a sphere is: A = 4 πr2, where A is the area, and r is the radius of the circle.
Find the surface area of the sphere below to 1 decimal place.
The formula for the area of a sphere is: \[ A = 4 \pi r^2 \]
If we substitute the values of the radius into this equation, we get: \[ A = 4 \pi (8)^2 = 4 \pi (64) = 256 \pi \]
This gives us a final answer of: \[ A = 804.2 \;\ cm^2 \]
A large inflatable ball has a radius of 1 ½ meters. What is the surface area of the ball? Give your answer to 2 decimal places.
The formula for the area of a sphere is: \[ A = 4 \pi r^2 \]
If we substitute the values of the radius into this equation, we get: \[ A = 4 \pi (1 {1 \over 2})^2 = 4 \pi ({9 \over 4}) = 9 \pi \]
This gives us a final answer of: \[ A = 28.27 \;\ m^2 \]
A basketball has a diameter of 9.55 inches. What is the surface area of the ball? Give your answer to 1 decimal place.
The first step is to find the radius of the ball.
The diameter of the ball is 9.55 inches. To find the radius, we have to halve the diameter (or divide the diameter by 2).
\[ 9.55 \div 2 = 4.775 \; inches \]
The formula for the area of a sphere is: \[ A = 4 \pi r^2 \]
If we substitute the values of the radius into this equation, we get: \[ A = 4 \pi (4.775)^2 = 4 \pi (22.800625) = 91.2025 \pi \]
This gives us a final answer of: \[ A = 286.5 \;\ in^2 \]
A ball has a surface area of 500 square cm. What is the diameter of the ball? Give your answer to 1 decimal place.
In this case, we know the surface area of the ball, but we need to find the diameter.
The formula for the area of a sphere is: \[ A = 4 \pi r^2 \]
This means that: \[ r^2 = {A \over 4 \pi} \]
This means that the radius \[ r = \sqrt ({A \over 4 \pi}) \; or \; {1 \over 2} \sqrt {A \over \pi} \]
If we substitute the values of the surface area into this equation, we get: \[ r = {1 \over 2} \sqrt (500 \over \pi) \]
This means that: \[ r = {1 \over 2} \sqrt (159.155) \]
So \[ r = {1 \over 2} (12.616) = 6.308 cm \]
The diameter is equal to twice the radius.
This gives us a final answer of: \[ diameter = 6.308 \times 2 = 12.6 \; cm \; to \; 1 \; decimal \; place. \]
We have created two worksheets to help you practice this skill.
The first sheet involves working out the surface area of a range of spheres where the radius is given.
The second sheet involves working out the surface area of spheres where the radius or diameter are given.
Take a look at some more of our worksheets similar to these.
We have a range of area and volume calculators to help you find the area and volumes of a range of different 2d and 3d shapes.
Each calculator page comes with worked examples, formulas and practice worksheets.
We have a range of other area worksheets and support pages for a range of different 2d shapes.
We have a wide range of free math calculators to help you.
Most of our calculators show you their working out so that you can see exactly what they have done to get the answer.
Our calculator hub page contains links to all of our calculators!
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