How do you find the volume of a sphere?

The volume enclosed by a sphere is given by the formula

volume = 4/3 π R 3

Where r is the radius of the sphere. In the figure above, drag the orange dot to change the radius of the sphere and note how the formula is used to calculate the volume. Since the 4, 3 and pi are constants, this simplifies to approximately

4.19 r 3

This formula was discovered over two thousand years ago by the Greek philosopher Archimedes. He also realized that the volume of a sphere is exactly two thirds the volume of its circumscribed cylinder, which is the smallest cylinder that can contain the sphere.

3 x πr cubed