How area under chart can be useful?

Ben is saying in the beginning of the lecture that measuring the area under chart could be super useful, but omits how so=) which makes me wonder why it is so usefull?

In the context of the lecture, we’re using the graph of speed and time to calculate the total distance traveled using the area under the curve.

Finding the area under a curve becomes more useful as the curve becomes more complex, as it becomes harder and harder to just look at the graph and know the answer.
It also becomes far more interesting when you start looking at the area between two curves.

This all falls under the collective branch of math known as calculus and, more specifically, integration.

Whenever you graph a curve there is additional information contained; in the slope of the line at any point, and in the area under it. This means you can control a lot of things in your code with just a couple of variables, which can be really useful.

4 Likes

Thanks Gary for the super clear answer! Looking forward for calculus stuff!

This topic was automatically closed 24 hours after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

Privacy & Terms