Q: error in Mathematica Book formulae for surface area of ellipsoid?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg14329] Q: error in Mathematica Book formulae for surface area of ellipsoid?
- From: wacb at aplcomm.jhuapl.edu (wacb)
- Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 01:21:41 -0400
- Organization: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
I've not been successful calculating the surface area of an ellipsoid, based on formulae given in the 3rd edition of the Mathematica Book (pg. 938). I have tried to verify that these formulae give value that correspond to a sphere and spheroids (both oblate and prolate). The values I get do not correspond to those I derive using other texts. For example, Mathematica calculates a value for a sphere of only 2 Pi. I believe the error is due to an incomplete definition for theta: the expression given in the book has a trailing "/", which suggests to me that something is missing. Can anyone confirm this error or give a corrected expression? Thanks. Bill Christens-Barry