I need to find the area of a symmetrical shape which looks similar to an eye-shape, It's not an elipse as each end comes to a point.

I'm googling it but if anyone has any good resources I would be eternally grateful.

Maybe the word you need is oval?? (like a Ferd)

http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/55402.html

Nope....more like the common area of two intersecting circles....such as a Venn Diagram.

I'm working on the vacuum system for a ammunition-making machine. They fill the bullets with a substance to cause the tracer affect. They run a Hoffman vacuum system to pull any powder residue off of the bullets. I need to measure the actual CFM for several points on the vacuum system. The circles and ovals I can do just fine, but this interlocking circles shape has me stumped. I can measure the average velocity of the air but if I don't know the area it is kind of pointless.

Keep the suggestions coming!

<edit> Now I'm sorry I asked....I'll figure it out though.

We used to have to do those kinds of problems a lot in calculus... Unfortunatly it was so painful I seemed to have blotted it out from my memory...

Randy-

This is totally possible.

What are the two radii of your circles? What is the distance between the two points where they cross?

With those two pieces of information we can solve this problem.

With the radius of each circle and the distance between where they overlap, you can calculate the angle of each arc. You do this for each circle and add them together to get the area where they overlap.

Here is a better page.

http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~wgarner/math4c/randprob/areaprob/twocircles1.htm

Good Luck,
Michael

Thank for the info guys. I took calc in college too but it's been 25 years and I swear I don't remember even one thing from it.

I won't know the sizes until I go to the project site on Saturday but it's 2-3" long and about 0.375" wide.

When I get the data I'll probably need your help Michael. That link is great though.