Should be a really easy solve - Trap rule using table?

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on applying the trapezoidal rule to calculate the total number of water bottles filled over a 5-hour period, using a table of rates. The user initially misapplies the trapezoidal formula, leading to an incorrect result of 64 bottles. The correct interpretation of the trapezoidal rule requires using the hourly rates as function values, not the time values. The correct calculation should yield a total between 440 and 480 bottles filled, based on the rates provided.

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Ok so i just have a table of numbers and i need to use the trapezoidal rule to determine the answer of how many water bottles will be filled over the 5 hours.

n = 5

Time Rate (bottles/hr)
8 am 120
9 am 110
10 am 115
11 am 115
12 pm 119

Ok i used the equation: h/2 (y + 2y1 + 2y1...+yn) and got:

(12 - 8)/5 [8 + 2(9) + 2(10) + 2(11) + 12]


and got 64. So 64 bottles over 5 hours?
 
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zaboda42 said:
Ok so i just have a table of numbers and i need to use the trapezoidal rule to determine the answer of how many water bottles will be filled over the 5 hours.

n = 5

Time Rate (bottles/hr)
8 am 120
9 am 110
10 am 115
11 am 115
12 pm 119

Ok i used the equation: h/2 (y + 2y1 + 2y1...+yn) and got:

(12 - 8)/5 [8 + 2(9) + 2(10) + 2(11) + 12]


and got 64. So 64 bottles over 5 hours?

Does your answer make any sense to you? It doesn't to me. You have a machine that can fill somewhere between 110 and 120 bottles per hour, and it's operating for 4 hours, so it ought to be able to fill somewhere between 440 and 480 bottles in that time.

The step size h is 1 hour, so h/2 = ?
The function values are the number of bottles filled/hour, not the time.
 
zaboda42 said:
Ok so i just have a table of numbers and i need to use the trapezoidal rule to determine the answer of how many water bottles will be filled over the 5 hours.

n = 5

Time Rate (bottles/hr)
8 am 120
9 am 110
10 am 115
11 am 115
12 pm 119

Ok i used the equation: h/2 (y + 2y1 + 2y1...+yn) and got:

(12 - 8)/5 [8 + 2(9) + 2(10) + 2(11) + 12]


and got 64. So 64 bottles over 5 hours?
8, 9, 10, 11, 12 are the hours! They are the xn values, not yn!
 

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