ExamYard Lectures

Spheres, cones and pyramids

IGCSE Maths 0580 · Chapter 24, Volume and surface area · 5-minute lecture

The teaching part (1 min) is free to watch. A free account opens the whole lecture: 7 practice questions, 1 real past-paper question with the answer explained, the mistakes that lose marks, the full-marks tip, a one-card summary and a quick quiz.

What this lecture covers

  1. A scoop of ice cream
  2. The sphere
Read the transcript of the teaching part

Last time

Before we start: last time, in Prisms, cuboids and cylinders, you learned these points. Here they are again on one card. Keep them in mind, because today builds on them.

A scoop of ice cream

An ice cream cone has a pointed cone of wafer, with a ball of ice cream on top. The ball is a sphere, the wafer is a cone, and the pointed roof of a pyramid-shaped tent is a pyramid. Each has its own formula. The good news: Cambridge prints them on the exam paper. Your job is to pick the right one, and to use it correctly.

The sphere

The volume of a sphere is four thirds pi r cubed. The surface area is four pi r squared. Radius six: four thirds times two sixteen is two eighty-eight. So the volume is two eighty-eight pi, nine hundred and four point seven eight. The surface area is four times thirty-six, a hundred and forty-four pi: four fifty-two point three nine.

How often it comes up

How often Cambridge has asked each part, counted by ExamYard from every past paper in its question bank: Spheres, cones and pyramids.

The whole chapter: Surface Area and Volume.

Chapter 24: Volume and surface area

Also for IGCSE Maths 0580

Which topics come up most in IGCSE Maths 0580 past papers, counted from every paper since 2004.

The IGCSE Maths 0580 topical past-paper book.