Trapezium Rule

The trapezium rule is a method of finding the

Approximate integration of a function.

Example

3
Evaluate x 4 dx
2

3
5 5

3 5
x 3 2
x dx 42.2
4

2 5 2 5 5
In general, when the graph of y = f(x) is approximately

b
linear for a x b, the value of the integral f x dx can
a
be approximated by the area of a trapezium. This can be

seen easily from the diagram below.

y f x Area of trapezium
=
1
b a f a f b
2
For the previous problem
Area of trapezium 3 2 f 3 f 2
1
2
81 16 48.5
1
a b 2
Which is close but not close enough
By increasing the number of trapeziums between a and b
we obtain a more accurate approximation. The increased
number of trapeziums gives rise to the following formula

b
f x dx d y0 yn1 2 y1 y2 y3 ...
1
a 2

Or in other words

b
f x dx d
1 (sum of end + twice sum of
2 points the rest)
a
Example

Use the trapezium rule with 5 ordinates to find the

3
approximate value of
1 , giving your
dx
1 1 x2
answer to three decimal places.
1
x0 = 1 y0 = 0.707... Put x = 1 into
1 x2
x1 = 1.5 y1 = 0.554...

x2 = 2 y2 = 0.447...

x3 = 2.5 y3 = 0.371...

x4 = 3 y4 = 0.316...

3
0.50.707 0.316 20.554 0.447 0.371
1 1
dx
Difference between each x 1 1 x2 2
coordinate worked out by going from
x = 1 to x = 3 in five ordinates. 0.942
Example

By considering four strips of equal width and considering the

approximate area to be that of four trapeziums, estimate

1
the value of cos x dx , giving your answer to 4 d.p.
0
For problems involving trig functions,
calculators must be in radian mode
x0 = 0 y0 = 1

x1 = 0.25 y1 = 0.877...

x2 = 0.5 y2 = 0.760...

x3 = 0.75 y3 = 0.647...

x4 = 1 y4 = 0.540... 1
0.251 0.540 20.877 0.760 0.647
1
cos x dx
0 2
0.7640
Example

Use the trapezium rule, with five ordinates, to evaluate

0.8
x2 , giving your answer to four decimal places
e dx
0
x2
x0 = 0 y0 = 1 Put x = 0 into e

x1 = 0.2 y1 = 1.0408...

x2 = 0.4 y2 = 1.1735...

x3 = 0.6 y3 = 1.4333...

x4 = 0.8 y4 = 1.8964...

0.8
0.21 1.8964 21.0408 1.1735 1.433
x2 1
e dx
0 2
1.0192