Announcing OmniGraffle 4 beta 1

[Marion Dickten]

*giggle*
like $$\bigint f(\gamma) d\gamma$$ ? I do think that's a bit outside of 
what Graffle is for.
Even if there was an easy way of finding horizontal sections of an 
irregularly shaped object (so that one could do integration "by 
slices") it is still quite a bit of Analysis. And if you want to do it 
numerically, say by approximating a shape with squares of a certain 
(very small, since you want an accurate result) side length, there's a 
lot of work involved for finding out which squares to count. Just try 
it on paper and you'll see.
The point is that you'll have to be able to calculate every 
y-coordinate for a given x-coordinate (and vice versa), which involves 
manipulating the (spline) equations describing the shape. I did 
something of the kind at university and I think that it can certainly 
be done, but you need a *lot* of motivation :-)

Marion

> Actually, having the 'area' calculated, while we're at it would be 
> fantastic.  E.g, if you have an oddly shaped object, to know the area 
> based on the various measurements...
>
> cheers,
>
> -thom
>
> On 31-May-05, at 7:34 AM, Peter McMaster wrote:
>
>> How about just being able to add your own units somehow?
>>
>>  - Peter