1993/02/01 by Branko Grünbaum, G. C. Shephard · 2 citations
Mathematics · Computer Science · Medicine · #Mathematics and Applications #History and Theory of Mathematics #Computational Geometry and Mesh Generation #Mathematics #Mathematical economics #Calculus (dental) #Medicine
paper · doi:10.2307/2323771
openalex publication_date 1993/02/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Some years ago, the Northwest Mathematics Conference was held in Eugene, Oregon. To add a bit of local flavor, a forester was included on the program, and those who attended his session were introduced to a variety of nice examples which illustrated the important role that mathematics plays in the forest industry. One of his problems was concerned with the calculation of the area inside a polygonal region drawn to scale from field data obtained for a stand of timber by a timber cruiser. The standard method is to overlay a scale drawing with a transparency on which a square dot pattern is printed. Except for a factor dependent on the relative sizes of the drawing and the square grid, the area inside the polygon is computed by counting all of the dots fully inside the polygon, and then adding half of the number of dots which fall on the bounding edges of the polygon. Although the speaker was not aware that he was essentially using Pick's formula, I was delighted to see that one of my favorite mathematical results was not only beautiful, but even useful. (From DeTemple [1989].)