Which explanation can be used to informally derive the formula for the volume of a cylinder? a cylinder consists of 2 circles on the top and the bottom. determine the circumference of each circle and add the circumferences together. to get the body of the cylinder, multiply it by the height of the cylinder. a cylinder is similar to a triangular prism except it does not have edges. the volume of a cylinder can be found by using the volume of a triangular prism. however, instead of using the base length of the triangle, use the radius of the cylinder. a cylinder is approximately equivalent to 3.5 spheres of the same radius stacked on top of each other. the volume of a cylinder is the volume of a sphere times 3.5. a cylinder is like a stack of circles. the volume of a cylinder would be the area of the circle times the height of the cylinder. the height of the cylinder represents how many circles are in the stack.