MA17-04 Maths Coming soon
Estimating the Area Under a Graph
MA17-04
This lesson is coming soon.
In this lesson
Estimate the area under a curved graph by splitting it into triangles and rectangles, and interpret the total as a real-world quantity such as distance travelled.
What it covers
- Recognising that the area between a speed-time (or similar rate-time) graph and the horizontal axis represents an accumulated total (e.g. total distance)
- Splitting a curved region under a graph into a small number of triangles, rectangles and trapezia to approximate the total area
- Calculating the area of each individual shape correctly, including the factor of a half for triangles
- Summing the individual shape areas to give a single estimate, and interpreting that total in the real-world context (e.g. 'so the car travelled approximately 340 metres')
Key words
For: AQA GCSE 8300, Edexcel GCSE 1MA1, Eduqas GCSE C300, OCR GCSE J560, Cambridge IGCSE 0580
On the specification
| Board | Spec | Statement |
|---|---|---|
| AQA GCSE 8300 | A15 | Calculate or estimate gradients of graphs and areas under graphs (including quadratic and other non-linear graphs), and interpret results in cases such as distance-time graphs, velocity-time graphs and graphs in financial contexts |
| Edexcel GCSE 1MA1 | A15 | Calculate or estimate gradients of graphs and areas under graphs (including quadratic and other non-linear graphs), and interpret results in cases such as distance-time graphs, velocity-time graphs and graphs in financial contexts (this does not include calculus) |
| Eduqas GCSE C300 | HA15 | Calculate or estimate gradients of graphs and areas under graphs (including quadratic and other non-linear graphs), and interpret results in cases such as distance-time graphs, velocity-time graphs and graphs in financial contexts |
| OCR GCSE J560 | 7.04c | Calculate or estimate areas under graphs, and interpret in contexts such as distance-time graphs, velocity-time graphs and financial graphs. |
| Cambridge IGCSE 0580 | E2.9 | Use and interpret graphs in practical situations including travel graphs and conversion graphs. |
For teachers
This GCSE Maths lesson teaches estimating the area under a graph. By the end, students should be able to estimate the area under a curved graph by splitting it into triangles and rectangles, and interpret the total as a real-world quantity such as distance travelled. It works through two worked examples and the mistakes examiners report.