Question : intuitive understanding of the area under the curve - again

Hi

If there is a function N(t) which describes the total size of a population as a function of time what does the area under the curve represent? I tried to imagine what quantity you get if you were to add up lots of little rectangles under the curve where the height of the rectangle is the population size at time t and the width of the rectangle is delta t, and I couldn't come up with anything meaningful. If you were to appply the same logic to a speed v time plot then the area under the is distance so I think my logic is sound

thanks

Answer : intuitive understanding of the area under the curve - again

The area under the curve would be the cumulative people impact over time.  Unfortunately, there isn't a general relationship between people and time.  (In the case of speed vs time... in a linear function, speed * time = distance.)

If population represented a drain of resources, you could consider the area under the curve as the total resources consumed by people...

If each unit of time were 'lifespan', the area under the curve would be 'corpses'.