unit of the area

The graph of a function in and of itself represents a pure number. It has no units. Consequently, the area under the graph is also a unitless number.

If, however, you are modelling something so that a unit is attached to the number represented by the function, , then the area under the graph also has a unit attached to it, namely the square of the unit attached to the function itself.

For example, if the function is to be interpreted as so many meters, then the area under the graph represents square meters.
 
What is the unit of the area under the graph of trigonometric function?
As another example, if the function gives the velocity in m/s of an object at time t seconds after it starts, then the integral will have units of m/s * s = m, and will give the position of the object (in meters) at time t. In general it has units of "area" found by multiplying the horizontal unit by the vertical unit.
 
In other words, in general,

unit (of abscissa)_x-axis * unit (of ordinate)_y-axis = unit area [under f(x,y)]
 
Top