Numerical Integration - HP -32S Owner's Manual

8
Numerical Integration
Many problems in mathematics, science, and engineering require cal
culating the definite integral of a function. If the function is denoted
by fix) and the interval of integration is a to b, then the integral can be
expressed mathematically as
7= £bfix)dx.
The quantity I can be interpreted geometrically as the area of a region
bounded by the graph of the function fix), the x-axis, and the limits
x = a and x = b (provided that fix) is nonnegative throughout the in
terval of integration).
The /FN operation integrates a specified function with respect to a
specified variable.* The function must be defined beforehand in a la
beled program, and it may have more than one variable.
•/FN works only with real numbers.
126 8: Numerical Integration