An Example Finding the Area Under a Curve

The formulas in row 9, used to calculate the area increment, are as follows  

Certain chemical problems, such as those involving chemical kinetics, can be expressed by means of differential equations. For example, the coupled reaction scheme 

To solve this system of simultaneous equations, we want to be able to calculate the value of [A], [B] and [C] for any value of t. For all but the simplest of these systems of equations, obtaining an exact or analytical expression is difficult or sometimes impossible. Such problems can always be solved by numerical methods, however. Numerical methods are completely general. They can be applied to systems of differential equations of any complexity, and they can be applied to any set of initial conditions. Numerical methods require extensive calculations but this is easily accomplished by spreadsheet methods. 

In this chapter we will consider only ordinary differential equations, that is, equations involving only derivatives of a single independent variable. As well, we will discuss only initial-value problems — differential equations in which information about the system is known at f = 0. Two approaches are common Euler s method and the Runge-Kutta (RK) methods. 

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