ABSTRACT
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• use the trapezoidal rule to determine irregular areas • use the mid-ordinate rule to determine irregular areas • use Simpson’s rule to determine irregular areas • estimate the volume of irregular solids • determine the mean values of waveforms
Areas of irregular plane surfaces may be approximately determined by using
(a) a planimeter, (b) the trapezoidal rule, (c) the mid-ordinate rule or
(d) Simpson’s rule.∗
Such methods may be used by, for example, engineers estimating areas of indicator diagramsof steam engines, surveyors estimating areas of plots of land or naval architects estimating areas of water planes or transverse sections of ships.
