1

The Applicative approach of Green's theorem for the Utilization of Planimeters:

Application of Advanced Engineering Mathematics

Reyes, Joshua D.
Tesnado, Christian Jedd D.

Mapua Institute of Technology

School of Civil, Environmental and Geological Engineering

September 05, 2016

GENERAL VIEW
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for CE50P-Advanced Engineering
Mathematics, students should make the final project showing practical applications of the
said course. In lieu to that, this paper entitled The Applicative approach of Green's
theorem for the Utilization of Planimeters has been prepared and submitted by the
following students:

Reyes, Joshua D.
Tesnado, Christian Jedd D.

And has been accepted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the course CE50PAdvanced Engineering Mathematics.

Engr. Kimuel Suyat

Instructor, CE50P
Date

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Cover Page............................................................................................................................i
General View...............................................................................................................ii
Table of Contents................................................................................................................iii
List of Figures.....................................................................................................................iv
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Project.......................................................................................7
Objectives................................................................................................................8
Literature Review...........................................................................................8
Significance of the Project.....................................................................................10
Scope and Limitation.............................................................................................11
Project Design.12
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Illustrative Problem. ..................................12
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ..............17
Bibliography..18
Appendix A How Does Planimeter Work?.....20

List of Figures
Figure

Page

1. The Planimeter.......................................................................10
2. Initial Point of the Square..............................................................................................11
3. Clockwise Rotation of the Planimeter...........................................................................11
4. The Area of the square as read by the dial ...............................................................12
5. The Graph of the square on the field.............................................................................13
6. Figure 6. The Coordinate form of Planimeter18

Introduction
Nowadays, even from the past few years, area of a two-dimensional space
bounded by a closed curve are always been a part of almost everything. For an instance,
architects try to survey the site of their subject to where they are going to base their area
of their designs and undoubtedly, that site is an area that is bounded. Historically, during
the Egyptian civilization, 3000 BC to ca 300 BC, Ancient Egyptians learned and
developed Egyptian geometry that opens up to different types of measuring system.
Eventually, they established and formulated the areas of triangle and rectangle. Knowing
these areas, the Egyptians came up and approximated the area of a circle. Subsequently,
Euclid, a Greek mathematician, made a mathematical and geometrical treatise entitled
Elements. This book summarized the different formulas of area he acquired during his
time. Archimedes, also a Greek Mathematician, used Euclid's Elements to prove that the
area inside a circle is equal to that of a right triangle whose height equals the circle's
radius and whose base has the length of the circle's circumference. In the 60 CE, Heron of
Alexandria found and proved the area of a triangle in terms of its side and later on, it was
known as Heron's Formula. At the time of 7th century CE, Brahmagupta's formula was
developed to determine the area of a quadrilateral inscribed in a circle. And in the 17th
century, the development of Cartesian Coordinates by Rene Descartes enabled the
formulation of surveyor's formula for the area of any polygon with known vertex points
presented by Gauss during the 19th century.
As time advances, from the time where people divided up a curved area into
rectangles and triangles, whose areas could be can be calculated, and so, then added up
all of the pieces in order to get the total area, people then found it time-consuming and

somehow inexact. That is why on the year of 1814, a practical mechanical device that can
solve mathematical integration and the area of an arbitrary two-dimensional shape known
as planimeter was first invented in Bavaria by Johann Martin Hermann, a Bavarian
surveyor. The first planimeter was a device that traces a curve with a needle point
connected to a measuring wheel that converts the length of the tracing to the result of an
integral function.
Modern mathematicians recognize the integrals calculated by various planimeters
as versions of Green's Theorem, which expresses the relationship between a line integral
around a simple closed curve and a double integral over the plane region bounded by that
curve. And it was fully developed throughout the 20th century. Jakob Amsler-Laffon, a
Swiss Mathematician, created the first modern planimeter in 1854. Jakob was figuring
out how to make the instrument smaller, less expensive, and easier to use. By 1854, he
had eliminated most of the complex mechanisms typical of earlier designs, reducing the
planimeter to two arms connected with a pivot. One arm was anchored at the end away
from the pivot, and one arm traced the drawing. Because the pivot and both arms can
move around the anchor, the motion of the tracer arm is graphed with polar coordinates
instead of linear x-y axes. Thus, this form of planimeter is called a polar planimeter.
Since the pivot moved back and forth, it traced an area whose net measurement was zero.
This meant that the area traced by the tracer point exactly equaled the area of the closed
curve the user was measuring. This area was equivalent to 2 multiplied by the product of
the length of the tracer arm, the radius of the counting wheel on the tracer arm, and the
number of revolutions completed by the counting wheel. Again, mathematicians today

work out the detailed mathematics of the operation of Amsler's planimeter with Green's
Theorem. Later on, improved and electronic types of planimeter were invented.
There are some situations where the man needs to measure the area of a twodimensional space bounded by a closed curve. Planimeter, as defined by Britannica, is a
mathematical instrument for directly measuring the area bounded by an irregular curve,
and hence the value of a definite integral. One of its major uses was in the analysis of
steam engines, where it was going to measure the area of the indicator diagram. An
indicator diagram represents the displacement of a piston against the pressure in that
piston which is measured by a small device known as the indicator. The area of such a
diagram is proportional to the force delivered and provides a way of comparing the power
output of different engines.

Background of the Project

In the late 1800s, way back when the process of industrialization took place,
Engineers were having a hard time measuring the area of an irregular shaped piece of
land. It was until Johann Martin Hermann built this device called the planimeter. It aided
all of the frustrations that these engineers experienced. The use of planimeter made its
way to the world of mathematics since it was one of the applications of Greens Theorem,
a part of the vector field analysis. Today, the determination of irregularly shaped land
areas became simple through the use of modern and advanced technology. The utilization
of a planimeter can now be used in CAD and the reason why this is interesting is because,

advanced engineering mathematics were involved in getting an accurate data of land

areas.

Objectives
The main objective of this project is to apply some of the topics in Advanced
Engineering Mathematics. The project seeks to:
1. Give an example in getting the area of an irregular shaped lot by the use of
Greens Theorem.
2. Show an illustration on how a polar planimeter works.
3. Broaden the knowledge and understanding about Advanced Engineering
Mathematics. Specifically, Greens Theorem.
Literature Review
In 1854, Jakob Amsler invented the polar planimeter, a brilliant and simple device
for measuring the area of a region. At the time he was still a student at the University of
Koenigsberg. He made a career for himself manufacturing tens of thousands of them, and
inventing and manufacturing related instruments.
The main part of a planimeter is a movable rod, called the tracer arm, with a tracer
point at one end. A wheel is attached to the rod with its axis parallel to the rod. The wheel
is equipped with a scale typically calibrated in square inches or square centimeters. It is
similar to a map reader wheel in that it can roll both forwards and backwards, and we will

call it the measuring wheel. In a linear planimeter, the end of the tracer arm opposite the
tracer point is restricted to follow a linear track, along which it can slide freely. In
contrast, in a polar planimeter, the tracer rod is hinged to a second rod, the pole arm,
forming an elbow. The end of the pole arm opposite the hinge, called the pole, is fixed so
that the pole arm can pivot around it. Consequently the elbow follows the arc of a circle
as it moves.
To operate a planimeter, the user selects a starting point on the boundary of the
region to be measured, places the tracer point there, and sets the counter on the wheel to
zero. The user then moves the tracer point once around the boundary of the region, as
shown in Figure 5. The tracer point is typically a stylus or a point marked on a
magnifying glass to facilitate the tracing. In a polar planimeter, as the tracer point moves,
the elbow at the hinge will flex and the angle between the pole arm and the tracer arm
will change. In a linear planimeter, the end of the tracer arm in the track will slide along
the track. In both planimeters the wheel rests gently on the paper, partially rolling and
partially sliding, depending on how the tracer point is moved. If the pointer is moved
parallel to the tracer arm, the wheel slides and does not roll at all. If the pointer is moved
perpendicular to the tracer arm, the wheel rolls and does not slide at all. Motion of the
pointer in any other direction causes the wheel to both roll and slide. When the tracer
point returns to the starting point, the user can read the area from the scale on the wheel.
Figure 5. How a planimeter is used. 76 Hands on History Like a map reader wheel, the
measuring wheel measures a directed distance, namely, the component of its motion that
is perpendicular to the tracer arm. The mathematics of how this directed distance can be
interpreted as the area of the region traversed by the tracer point is both simple and

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elegant, and is the basis of how a planimeter works. Polar and linear planimeters are
mechanically simple: polar planimeters need only three moving parts; linear planimeters
need only two. Since their invention they have been inexpensive enough that many
engineers, architects, surveyors and others could afford to own one. In the electronic age
planimeters are less commonly used since the area of a digitized region can be found with
an appropriate computer program, but many antique planimeters are still reliable and in
service. Modern electronic planimeters are typically expensive, however the electronics
are illusory. They are mechanically about the same as their non-electronic ancestors
Amsler would easily recognize them. Furthermore, they are not noticeably more accurate,
since their accuracy lies in the skill of the operator, not in the electronics.
through calculations. For this situation, Advanced Engineering Mathematics
played an active role on explaining how measuring this certain area in a distinct
mathematical approach. Living in the era of advanced technologies, the researchers'
references came from the internet.

Significance of the Project

Land areas can be easily determined if the lot has a regular shape. But since land
has an irregular shape, its area cannot be determined by just using a measuring tape or
other simple measuring apparatus. This project can be used as a basis on how they will
use the application of Greens Theorem. By acquiring the knowledge, they will be able to
determine the area of an irregular shaped piece of land.

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Scope and Limitations

This research covered a topic under vector analysis in the course Advanced
Engineering Mathematics. The practical application of Green's theorem and its
mathematical relationship to planimeters which were used to measure an irregular shaped
land areas was included in this research. Moreover, a sample problem was presented to
understand this relationship. However, this research was only bounded on how the
graphical approach of measuring an irregular shaped land area with the usage of
planimeters will be related to Green's theorem using Vector Field Analysis.

Project Design
Measuring an irregular shaped land area manually will require a long period of
time just to accomplish it. Everything that is happening in this world can be proved
through calculations. For this situation, Advanced Engineering Mathematics played an
active role on explaining how measuring this certain area in a distinct mathematical
approach. Living in the era of advanced technologies, the researchers' references came
from the internet.
Results and Discussion
Illustrative Problem: Computation of Area of a square using planimeter

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Planimeter is an instrument that has two arms. One arm is weighted at one end
and has a pin point that rests on the table surface. The other end fits into a hole in the
second arm. The far end of the second arm has a pointer. The planimeter is placed on the
map or on any figure that is importantly bounded by curves so that the pointer rests on
the shoreline at an identifiable point and the two arms are at roughly right angles to each
other. The dial on the planimeter is set to zero.

Figure 1. The Planimeter

On the Figure 1., the area bounded by the borders of the square is subjected to be
measured.

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Figure 2. Initial

Point of

the Square

Figure 3. Clockwise Rotation of the Planimeter

On the Figures 2 and 3, the pointer moves around the square in a clockwise
direction following its outmost borders until the pointer goes back to the reference point
where it started.

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Figure 4. The Area of the square as read by the dial

Lastly, on the Figure 4., the dial is read again and the number of planimeter units is
recorded. And recorded an area of 1 sq.

Lets try to prove it using Greens Theorem.

Assume that the given function of the vector field is

{P ( x , y )=x + y 2 ,Q ( x , y ) =2 x 2 +2 y }

Pdx+Qdy= ( Qx Py ) dA
C

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Get the partial derivatives of the function

Q
=4 x +0=4 x
x
P
=0+ 2 y =2 y
y
Lets say that the vertices of a square are (1,0), (0,0), (0,1) & (1,1)

Figure 5. The graph of the square on the field

Substitute the derived functions

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( 4 x2 y ) dydx
The limits of integration for both x and y will be
1 1

( 4 x2 y ) dydx
0 0

Integrate the equation in terms of y

1

4 xy

2 y2 1
dx
2
0

Substitute the limits of integration

2

1
4 x (1)()( 4 x (0)0 2)

Simplify
1

( 4 x1 ) dx
0

Now, integrate it in terms of x

4x
x 1
2
0

Substitute the limits

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2

1
2(1)()( 2 ( 0 )0 2)

Simplify further
21=1

Conclusion
1. Advanced Engineering Mathematics allowed individuals to broaden their mental
capacity about the mentioned course and to deeply comprehend its numerous
practical real life applications; whereby, an individual could completely augment
the advantages or benefits it can acquire in everyday living.
2. Our group mainly focused on one topic under this course which is the Greens
Theorem. A greens theorem is simply a relationship between double integrals and
line integrals around a closed curve in the plane used in potential theory and
PDFs. It is highly useful in obtaining the area of various closed curves given its
respective boundaries.
3. Apropos to its real life application, greens theorems approach and concepts can
be observed on the way a planimeter works. The planimeter is a mechanical
device that can measure the area of closed regions in the plane in a less timeconsuming manner since it doesnt necessarily need computations.

4. Furthermore. planimeters are vital since it could be also used in different aspects
of life. In pharmaceutical, it could measure the size of the cross-segments or

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sections of organs (i.e. esophagus, stomach, heart) tumors, and so on and so forth.
In biological aspect, it could measure the zone of leaves or wing sizes of bugs or
any other insects. In agricultural, it could quantify the area of woodlands and in
engineering, planimeter is utilized to gauge the extent of profiles.
Bibliography
Area. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area
Care, Charles. Illustrating the History of Planimeter. (N.p., 2004). Retrieved from http://
empublic. dcs. warwick. ac. uk/ projects/ planimeterCare2004/Docs/report.pdf.
Egyptian Geometry. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, (n.d.) Retrieved from https:// en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_geometry
Euclid's Elements. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Retrieved from https: //en.
wikipedia. org/wiki/Euclid%27s_Elements
Green's Theorem. (N.p., 1996.) Retrieved from http:// math. oregonstate. edu/ home/
programs/ undergrad/CalculusQuestStudyGuides/vcalc/green/green.html
Knill, Oliver. The Planimeter and the Theorem of Green. (9 Dec. 2000). Retrieved from
http:// www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/teaching/math21a2000/planimeter/index.html
Kunkel, Paul. The Planimeter. (8 Jan. 2012.) Retrieved from http:// whistleralley. com/
planimeter/planimeter.htm
Mastin, Luke. "Egyptian Mathematics - The Story of Mathematics." (N.p., 2010).
Retrieved from http:// www.storyofmathematics.com/egyptian.html

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Planimeter. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, (n.d.) Retrieved

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclid%27s_Elements
Planimeters - PolarAmsler. (n.d.)., Retrieved from http:// americanhistory. si. edu/
collections/ object- groups/planimeters
Polar Planimeter. (n.d.). Retrieved from http:// www. leinweb. com/ snackbar/ planimtr/
wheat ley/s10-2.htm
Planimeter. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, (n.d.) Retrieved from https:// en.
wikipedia. org/ wiki/Planimeter

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Appendix A
How Foes Planimeter Work?
Let

F ( x , y )=( P ( x , y ) ,Q ( x , y ) ) be the vector field defined by the attached unit

vector orthogonal at the arm ( xa , yb) at (x , y ) . The rotating wheel measures

the line integral

F (x , y ) ds

along the piecewise path . The vector field

will be called as a planimeter Vector field. We let

Using Greens Theorem, this will be equal to

R as the region enclosed by .

curl ( F ) dxdy .
R

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Figure 6. The Coordinate form of Planimeter

If r

is the length of the arms of the planimeter vector field is given by

F ( x , y )= ( P ( x , y ) , Q ( x , y ) )=(

The curl curl ( F ) =Qx P y of

yb ( x , y ) x a ( x , y )
),(
).
r
r

F is equal to

2 ax b y
+
r
r

Which

2
r

plus the curl of the vector field (

Then, the value of curl will be equal to

1
r .

b (x , y ) a ( x , y )
,
) .
r
r

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2
2
2
2
2
2
The equations ( xa ) + ( y b ) =r , a +b =r give

x 22 ax+ y 22 by=0, a2 +b2 =r 2

From
a2 +b 2=r 2
b will be equal to
r
( 2a2)
b=
And a will be equal to
r
( 2b2)
a=

Substitute the value of b from the previous equation

r
( 2a2 ) y =0
(eq. 1)
x 22 ax+ y 2+2

Then, substitute the value of a to the same equation

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r
( 2b2 ) y =0
(eq. 2)
x 22 bx+ y 2 +2

From the eq. 1 and 2,

1 2r 2 xy
1
1
a x + b y = +(
)( 2 2
2 2
)
2
2
r
R
R ( R 4 r ) R ( R 4 r 2 )

And a x + b y will be equal to

1
Knowing that rl ( v )= r

R2=x 2 + y 2

, the planimeter line integral

F ( x , y ) ds

1
r , where

is equal to

1
r

multiply by the area of the enclosed region. In units

where r=1 , the curl is 1 and therefore, we measured the area of the region.