ABSTRACT
Inengineeringthereareoftensituationswherethefunctionsthat havetobeintegratedareonlyspecifiedbyasetofvalues.This mightbe,forexample,inthecomputationoftheworkdoneasthe integralofFdxwhenaforceFmovesitspointofapplication throughadistancex,theforce-distancevalueshavingbeen obtainedexperimentally.Insuchcasesnumericalintegrationcan beused.AlsotherearesomefunctionswhichdefYtheusual methodsofintegration,therebeingnoelementaryfunctionwhich hasthefunctionastheirderivative.Forexample,thereareno functionswhichhavethefollowingastheirderivatives:
- 1-sinr.2Q!!:b-x3 lnx''x'
Numericalintegrationmethodscanbeused,howevercomplexa functionis.
