Warrigal
SF VIP
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
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A meme for mathematicians
- Thread starter Warrigal
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Been There
Well-known Member
- Location
- Florida
The weird looking E (I don't have the correct symbol available) means SUM =
The Integral symbol stands for Integration or taking the number of parts to arrive at a total? It's the total of what, I am confused about.
The Integral symbol stands for Integration or taking the number of parts to arrive at a total? It's the total of what, I am confused about.
sch404
Member
- Location
- Oak Park, Calif.
The integral is the area under the stairs from an initial horizontal position, A, to a final horizontal position, B, computed as the limit of the sum of the areas of the individual stairs underneath each discrete stair step as the horizontal width of the individual stairsteps tends to zero.
Last edited:
Jamala
Senior Member
- Location
- Butterfly from Herts/UK
Not absolutely sure but I believe the picture is showing the difference between summation and integration…in other words… discrete data and continuous data.
Discrete data can be counted (the steps in the picture)
Continuous data cannot be counted and has to be measured (the pathway)
Discrete data can be counted (the steps in the picture)
Continuous data cannot be counted and has to be measured (the pathway)
Capt Lightning
Well-known Member
- Location
- Historic Buchan, Scotland
I think you can read too much into the picture. The 'sigma' suggests the sum of discrete steps, while the 'integral' sign suggests the sum of infinitely small increments.