To find surface area in cones needs that you find the slant height, which is the shortest distance from a point in the perimeter of the circle in the base to the vertex in the cone. Thus the slant height makes a right triangle with the radius of the base, and the height of the cone. Because you have a right triangle, you will be able to use the Pythagorean Theorem. This applet illustrates the process of calculating lateral area, surface area, and volume for the cone. You may drag sliders for "r", and "h" to view different sets of problems.
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