This truncated cone calculator takes the figures you already have and applies the relationship behind truncated cone calculations for you, giving lateral surface area, bottom surface area and total surface area from height (h), base radius (r) and top radius (r).
What Is the Truncated Cone Calculator?
The truncated cone calculator works through height (h), base radius (r) and top radius (r) to give you lateral surface area, bottom surface area and total surface area.
It is aimed at the case where you know the method but not the arithmetic: schoolwork, a quick check on a worked example, or a figure that needs to be right first time.
How the Truncated Cone Works
Each step is applied in order and depends only on the values before it, which makes it possible to follow the calculation rather than take it on trust.
If you are working through the same problem by hand afterwards, compare the intermediate values. That is where a mistake usually shows itself.
Checking Your Own Working
Round sensibly as you go and keep the full precision in the calculator. Rounding too early is the most common way of getting a right method to give a wrong answer.
Where a result should be a whole number, such as a count, check it against the constraint that produced it. A fraction of a person is a sign that something upstream needs revisiting.
A Worked Example
Working through an example, with height (h) set to 10, base radius (r) set to 5, top radius (r) set to 2, the calculator returns volume of 408.40704, and slant height (s) of 10.44031, and top surface area of 12.56637. Substitute your own figures and the same steps produce the same kind of answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I need to work out lateral surface area?
Enter height (h), base radius (r) and top radius (r). The calculator then works through the relationship and reports lateral surface area, bottom surface area and total surface area.
What does the truncated cone actually calculate?
It takes height (h), base radius (r) and top radius (r) and converts them into lateral surface area, bottom surface area and total surface area using the standard relationship for this problem. Each step is applied in turn, so every output is traceable back to the numbers you typed in.
How should I enter height (h)?
Use the value you actually have, in the unit shown next to the field. Enter every value in the same unit system. The calculator assumes the figures you supply are consistent, so it cannot correct a mistake that happens before the calculation starts.
Do I have to fill in every field?
Only the fields a particular result depends on. If you leave one blank, the results that need it simply show a note instead of a number, and everything else still works.
Does anything you type get stored?
No. The whole calculation runs inside your browser, and nothing you enter is uploaded, logged or sent anywhere.