Proving smallest surface area of cylinder is when h=2r

[Greg Marra]

Perhaps I'm missing something really obvious here, but...

Wouldn't the smallest surface area occur when h and r are as close to 0 as possible?

I mean, are we talking about in relation to something? In finite terms it'd seem that you can get a smaller surface area when you reduce either of those numbers...

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Greg Marra

Perhaps I'm missing something really obvious here, but...

Wouldn't the smallest surface area occur when h and r are as close to 0 as possible?

I mean, are we talking about in relation to something? In finite terms it'd seem that you can get a smaller surface area when you reduce either of those numbers...

we're talking about for a fixed volume. so you can't vary things at will.