Texas Surveyor in Training Practice Test

A developable surface is a type of surface that can be flattened into a plane without stretching or tearing. The cylinder is classified as a developable surface because it can be rolled out flat into a rectangle, which means that the curvature can be removed while preserving the properties of the shape. This characteristic makes cylinders particularly important in various fields such as engineering, architecture, and cartography, where flat representations of curved surfaces are often required.

In contrast, a sphere cannot be flattened into a plane without distortion, as it has a consistent curvature in all directions. Similarly, a cube’s faces are flat but it does not represent a continuous surface that can be unrolled like a cylinder. A triangle, while a two-dimensional shape, also does not encompass the characteristics of a developable surface in the same context as a cylinder. Thus, the cylinder stands out as the accurate choice among the given options.