ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a worthwhile review and a tailoring of the subject to the applications of interest in strength of materials. It considers the cross section of the beam. The chapter utilizes formulas to compute the moment of inertia for simple shapes with respect to the centroidal axes of the area. It analyzes composite beam shapes made from two or more standard structural shapes to determine the resulting centroid location and moment of inertia. The chapter examines the moment of inertia of complex shapes by treating them as composites of two or more simple shapes. In the study of strength of materials, the property of moment of inertia of an area is an indication of the stiffness of a beam, that is, the resistance to deflection of the beam when carrying loads that tend to cause it to bend.
