Trapezoidal rule

Uncommon card · No. 131671

In calculus, the trapezoidal rule (informally trapezoid rule; or in British English trapezium rule) is a technique for numerical integration, i.e. approximating the definite integral: ∫ a b f ( x ) d x . {\displaystyle \int _{a}^{b}f(x)\,dx.} The trapezoidal rule works by approximating the region under the graph of the function f ( x ) {\displaystyle f(x)} as a trapezoid and calculating its area. This is easily calculated by noting that the area of the region is made up of a rectangle with width ( b − a ) {\displaystyle (b-a)} and height f ( a ) {\displaystyle f(a)} , and a triangle of...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Public domain