Integral computation relating to rational curves based on approximate degree reduction

A new algorithm is presented for computing the volume of revolution, moment of area and centroid etc. , which are related to the integration of rational curves. In this algorithm rational curve with high degree is firstly approximated by those with lower degree through endpoint interpolation. And finally the closed form integration solution is derived for quadratic rational curve. The diminishing rate of the minimum norm of the perturbation vector needed by degree reduction is 0(2" ") when the interval is subdivided at the midpoint. Combining the subdivision with the degree reduction, we can obtain a faster convergence of integration approximation. A series of integral error bound functions which are fairly simple to compute are derived. The examples given in this paper show that this algorithm is a simple and time-saving method in computing with small tolerance.