COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND FOOD SCIENCE

Department of Agricultural Engineering

Determining Area of a Rectilinear Field by Tape

Fieldwork No. 4

NAME: _____________________________ RATING: _____________

SECTION & YEAR: _________________ DATE: _______________

I. Objectives
a. To learn how to measure horizontal angles with tape.
b. To determine the area of a rectilinear field with tape.

II. Instruments
1. Steel tape
2. Chaining pins
3. Range poles
4. Pegs

III. Procedures
1. Establish the corners of the assigned field and also establish within the field a
centrally located point.
2. Subdivide the field into a convenient series of connected triangles. Use pins
to mark the vertices of each triangle. Call these points A, B, C, and etc.
3. From the centrally-located point, measure distances to each point defining the
corners or vertices of each triangles. Call these distances d1, d2, d3 and etc.
4. Using the chord method of measuring angles by tape, determine all the
angles about the central point, i.e., θ1, θ2, and etc.

5. Refer to the accompanying sample tabulation for the recording of observed

field data.

IV. Computation
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 1. Determining values of Included Angles
With the use of a tape the chord method of measuring angles may be
applied to determine the value of an angle. The following formula is used

Included Chord Length of Computed Adjusted

Correction
Angle Distance side Angle Angle
Θ1
Θ2
Θ3
Θ4
Θ5

2. Determine Area of Each Triangle

In each triangle, since the length of two sides and the included angle can
be determined, the area of the triangle may be calculated by the following
formula.

1
A= ab SinC
2

Where:
A = Area of the triangle
a,b = The two measured sides of the triangle
(d1,d2,etc.)

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 C = included angle (θ1,θ2, etc.)

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 Sides
Triangle st Included Angle Area
1 2nd
ABF
BCF
CDF
DEF
AEF

3. Calculating the total area

The total area of the field is the sum of the calculated areas of the
series of connected triangles into which the field is subdivided, or

At = A1 + A2 + A3 + A 4 + A5

Where:
At = total area of the field

V. Results

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 B
VI. Sketch
36.08

27.75
C
24.46

25.79
Θ2
22.50 Θ1
Θ3 24.55
A
Θ5

Θ4
22.25
21.33

D 22.45

30.22
E

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