For the Washer Method The area of a disk is the area of a circle. The volume is the area times the thickness, which will be either dx or dy depending on the problem. Thus, it will be either or Thus, for some a and b, we'll have Where R is the radius of the larger disk and r that of the smaller. The radii functions must have the same independent variable as the differential. If revolving around a horizontal line , the thickness of the representative disk will be the differential dx. In this case: The larger disk will be determined by the function farther from the line and the smaller disk, by the function closer to If revolving around a vertical line , the thickness of the representative disk will be the differential dy. In this case: The larger disk will be determined by the function farther from the line and the smaller disk, by the function closer to It must be taken into account if the graphs of the functions cross each other of the line about which we are rotating. If a region must be divided into two or more parts, the volume must be calculated using two or more integrals.