diving an area into two equal regions

**TheMathTham** · February 11th 2010, 06:40 PM

So, the graph is $y=4-x^{2}$ and it is to be looked at in the first quadrant. In order to find the total area, I drew a line in the graph so that it would be separated into a triangle and a semi-circle. using Area of a Circle formula (divided by 2 since its a semi-circle), I got 2pi. I added that to the Area of a triangle formula and got 10.283. Now, is there an equation I would use to find the vertical line that cuts the region into two smaller regions whose areas are equal?

**skeeter** · February 11th 2010, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by TheMathTham

So, the graph is $y=4-x^{2}$ and it is to be looked at in the first quadrant. In order to find the total area, I drew a line in the graph so that it would be separated into a triangle and a semi-circle. using Area of a Circle formula (divided by 2 since its a semi-circle), I got 2pi. I added that to the Area of a triangle formula and got 10.283. Now, is there an equation I would use to find the vertical line that cuts the region into two smaller regions whose areas are equal?

a parabola does not separate into those two geometric figures.

$\textcolor{blue}{\int_0^k 4-x^2 {dx} = \int_k^2 4-x^2 {dx}}$

**TheMathTham** · February 12th 2010, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by skeeter

a parabola does not separate into those two geometric figures.

$\textcolor{blue}{\int_0^k 4-x^2 {dx} = \int_k^2 4-x^2 {dx}}$

ah ok. good piece of information to know.

So I found that the $\int_{0}^{2}4-x^{2}dx$ was equal to 5.333. So by dividing by 2, i found that 2.667 was the area of each region. Then I set up $F(a_{1})-F(b_{1})=F(a_{2})-F(b_{2})$ .

$(4k-\tfrac{1}{3}k^{3})-(0)=(5\tfrac{1}{3})-(4k-\tfrac{1}{3}k^{3})$ . Which means that $8k-\tfrac{2}{3}k^{3}=5\tfrac{1}{3}$ .

How do I solve it from there?

**skeeter** · February 12th 2010, 09:12 AM

$\int_0^k 4-x^2 = \frac{8}{3}$

$\left[4x - \frac{x^3}{3}\right]_0^k = \frac{8}{3}<br />$

$4k - \frac{k^3}{3} = \frac{8}{3}$

$12k - k^3 = 8$

$0 = k^3 - 12k + 8$

using a calculator ... $k \approx 0.6946$

**TheMathTham** · February 12th 2010, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by skeeter

$\int_0^k 4-x^2 = \frac{8}{3}$

$\left[4x - \frac{x^3}{3}\right]_0^k = \frac{8}{3}<br />$

$4k - \frac{k^3}{3} = \frac{8}{3}$

$12k - k^3 = 8$

$0 = k^3 - 12k + 8$

using a calculator ... $k \approx 0.6946$

Is there a way to find that out non-graphically?

**skeeter** · February 12th 2010, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by TheMathTham

Is there a way to find that out non-graphically?

sure ...

The "Cubic Formula"

... if you're ready to do the extensive algebra required.

**TheMathTham** · February 12th 2010, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by skeeter

sure ...

The "Cubic Formula"

... if you're ready to do the extensive algebra required.

...good ol' graphs

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