Activity 11.3.1.
Consider the portion of the plane \(3x - 4y - z = 4\) which lies above the interval \([3,6] \times [-1,4]\) in the \(xy\) plane.
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Describe this as a parametric surface.
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Calculate its surface area.
Solution.
I would like to use ExampleΒ 11.1.2 to parametrization this. To make this the graph of a function, I can solve for \(z\) in the equation of the plane as \(z = 3x-4y-4\text{.}\) The bounds of the parameter domain are precisely the bounds on \(x\) and \(y\) given in the descriptions.
\begin{align*}
\sigma(u,v) \amp = (u,v,3u - 4v - 4) \\
D \amp = (u,v) \in [3,6] \times[-1,4]
\end{align*}
To calculate the surface area, Iβll need the partial derivative, the normal, and the length of the normal.
\begin{align*}
\sigma_u \amp = (1,0,3) \\
\sigma_v \amp = (0,1,-4) \\
\sigma_u \times \sigma_v \amp = (-3,4,1) \\
|\sigma_u \times \sigma_v| \amp = \sqrt{9+16+1} = \sqrt{26}
\end{align*}
Then I can calculate the surface area by integrating the length of the normal over the parameter domain.
\begin{align*}
A \amp = \int_D |\sigma_u \times \sigma_v| du dv \\
\amp = \int_{-1}^4 \int_3^6 \sqrt{26} du dv = \sqrt{26}
(4-(-1))(6-3)\\
\amp= 15 \sqrt{26}
\end{align*}
