TURALDES EXTERNAL RULE

(A SIMPLIFIED FORMULA FOR SOLVING THE EXTERNAL AREA OF A SIMPLE CURVE)

HENRY P. TURALDE
Associate Professor
College of Engineering
Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges
Nabua, Camarines Sur, Philippines

Finding the area bounded by the curve and its tangents, herein referred to as the external area,
is conventionally done by finding the component areas of regular shapes then making use of its
combinations to get the area of the problem section. An alternative solution using Turaldes External
Rule formula shows a simplified approach in the calculation of the external area.
Sample Problem 1: Find the area of the shaded part of a square with an inscribed quadrant of a
circle

A. Conventional Method
For this problem, a square has an inscribed quadrant of a circle and the curve is tangent to the two
sides of the square. The shaded portion is the external area.

= 90o

Figure 1
A common approach is by calculating the areas of the square and the quadrant of the circle. For example,
suppose the side of the square is R.
.
Calculate the area of the quadrant of a circle.
.
Subtract the area of the quadrant of the circle from the area of the square to determine the area outside the circle
within the square.

B. Turaldes External Rule

The area of the external is one-third the product of the length of
curve and its external distance.
(Turaldes External Rule Formula)
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Where Lc = length of curve

=

Lc
Lc

, that is the circumference of the circle divided by 4

= 1.5708 R

E = external distance of the curve (distance from vertex to the curve)

(Since

),

90)

0
Therefore,

)(

Sample Problem 2: Find the area of the external of a simple curve with a central angle of 60
and with radius R

A. Conventional Method
A common approach to this problem is done by calculating the area of the triangles less the area of the
sector of a circle.

= 60

0o

Figure 2
Calculate the area of the quadrilateral.
( )( )
Where T = tangent distance

T = R Tan ( )
Since

60, Tan ( ) = 0.5774

[

)]

Calculate the area of the sector of the circle.

, Since = 60,
0

Subtract the area of the sector of the circle from the area of the quadrilateral.
0

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00

B. Turaldes External Rule

(Turaldes External Rule Formula)

Lc = length of curve
Lc =

Since = 60

Lc = 1.0472 R
E = external distance of the curve (distance from vertex to the curve)
(

Since = 75,

)
0

Therefore,

)(

Sample Problem 3: Find the area of the external of a simple curve with a central angle of 120
and with radius R

= 120o

Figure 3

A. Conventional Method
Calculate the area of the quadrilateral.
( )( )

T = R Tan ( )
Since = 120, Tan ( ) = 1.7321
[

)]

Calculate the area of the sector of the circle.

,

Since = 120,

Subtract the area of the sector of the circle from the area of the quadrilateral.
0

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06

B. Turaldes External Rule

(Turaldes External Rule Formula)

Lc = length of the curve

Lc =

Since = 120, Lc = 2.0944 R

E = external distance of the curve (distance from vertex to the curve)

(

),

( = 120) ,
Therefore,

)( )

Looking through the formula

A. Conventional Method

Tan (/2)

=
[

60

Tan (/2)] (

[ Tan (/2)

60

)
)

B. Turaldes External Rule

(Turaldes External Rule Formula)
Lc =

][ (

)[

(
(

)]

)
)

Figure 4
Page 4 of 5

Table 1
Comparison of Calculated Areas

Central angle,

Area by
Conventional
Method

Area by
Turaldes External
Rule Formula

Difference in
Area

Relative
Precision

45

00

00

50

00 0

00 0

55

00

00

60

00

00

65

00 0

00 0

70

00 9

0 090

0 00

75

0 00

80

0 00

85

0 00

90

0 00

1/110

95

0 6

0 6

0 00

1/90

100

0 00

1/80

105

0 9

0 006

1/60

110

0 6

0 00

1/60

115

0 66

00 0

1/60

120

06

0 69

00

1/50

125

00

1/50

00

1/40

00

1/40

130

0 0

135

0
0
6

Note: The difference in calculated areas between the two methods increases as the central angle
increases.

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