2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Lateral Area of a Cone

Materials
several circular coffee filters per student
1. Use a circular coffee filter. Fold to find its center. Cut the circle to make a
sector (as shown) and roll it to make a cone.
a. What part of the cone is the radius of the sector you rolled?
b. What part of the sector is the circumference of the base of the cone?
2. Verify that the labels in the figure below agree with your findings in item 1.
Complete the following to determine relationships between the cone and the
circle if the cone is created from the sector of the circle shown.

a. Complete the table below:
Angle Measure Area of Sector Circumference of
Sector
2



2

m

b. In terms of the measure of angle and radius s, what is the arc length of
the circle used to create the cone?
c. In terms of the cone and its height h and radius r, what is the slant height
of the cone?
2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
d. What is the length of the arc of the circle that makes up the base of the
cone in terms of the radius of the cone?
e. Use the relationships you found in items 2b-2d to write an equation
showing the measure of angle in terms of the radius and height of the
cone.
3. a. What is the area of the sector of the circle shown in terms of its radius s
and measure of angle ?
b. Rewrite your equation from item 3a in terms of the radius and height of the
cone.
c. Use the measure of angle from item 2e to rewrite your equation in terms
of the radius and height of the cone.
4. Use your work from problems 2 and 3 to find an equation that shows the
lateral area of a cone.