How many sides has a cylinder?

A cylinder can have either 1 side or 3 sides, depending on whether the ends are enclosed.

According to the reference: A cylinder has 1 side which wraps around circular areas in the two ends. If the ends are enclosed then there are 2 circular sides for a total of 3 sides, two of which are flat circles and one curved side.

Here's a breakdown:

• Without Enclosed Ends: If we consider a cylinder as simply the curved surface, then it has only 1 side. Imagine a pipe or a tube; it only has the curved surface.

• With Enclosed Ends: If the cylinder has circular top and bottom surfaces (i.e., it's closed like a can), then it has 3 sides:

  1. The curved side that wraps around.
  2. The circular top.
  3. The circular bottom.

Cylinder Type	Number of Sides
Open Cylinder (no ends)	1
Closed Cylinder	3

Therefore, the question of how many sides a cylinder has depends on whether the ends are included as sides.