A silo is a large cylinder container that holds hay. A farmer needs to refinish the side of the silo with aluminum. The silo has a radius of 4 feet and a height of 30 feet. How many square feet of aluminum does the farmer need to refinish the silo?

He will not be refinishing the top or bottom of the silo. Use 3.14 for pi and round your answer to the nearest tenth.

1 answer

To find the surface area that needs to be refinished, we need to calculate the lateral surface area of the cylinder. The formula for the lateral surface area \( A \) of a cylinder is given by:

\[ A = 2\pi rh \]

where \( r \) is the radius and \( h \) is the height. In this case, the radius \( r \) is 4 feet and the height \( h \) is 30 feet.

Plugging in the values:

\[ A = 2 \times 3.14 \times 4 \times 30 \]

Calculating step-by-step:

  1. Calculate \( 2 \times 3.14 = 6.28 \).
  2. Calculate \( 6.28 \times 4 = 25.12 \).
  3. Calculate \( 25.12 \times 30 = 753.6 \).

Thus, the lateral surface area of the silo is:

\[ A = 753.6 \text{ square feet} \]

Rounding to the nearest tenth, the farmer needs:

\[ \boxed{753.6} \text{ square feet of aluminum to refinish the silo.} \]