Sphere
A sphere is a shape in space that is like the surface of a ball. Most of the time, the terms ball and sphere are used as the same. But in mathematics, the precise (exact) definition only allows points in the 3 dimensional space which are uniformly and symmetrically located at a fixed length called radius of the sphere.
Examples of these are basketballs, superballs, and playground balls.
A sphere is the 3 dimensional analogue of a circle.
Volume
The volume (V) of a sphere is given by the following formula
- [math]\displaystyle{ \!V = \frac{4}{3}\pi r^3 }[/math]
where r is the radius of the sphere.
Surface area
The surface area (A) of a sphere is given by the following formula
- [math]\displaystyle{ \!A =4 \pi r^2 }[/math]
where r is the radius of the sphere.
Equation of a sphere
In Cartesian co-ordinates, the equation for a sphere with a center at (x0, y0, z0) is as follows:
[math]\displaystyle{ (x-x_0)^2 + (y-y_0)^2 + (z-z_0)^2 = r^2 }[/math]
where r is the radius of the sphere.