Can anyone explain Riemann sum for me?

Question

Can anyone explain Riemann sum for me and how to do it? For example the area between 1 and 2 of (3x^2-2)dx.... I know the answer is 5 but, I don't know how to get there.

Answer 1

The Riemann sum is a way of computing integrals by breaking down a curve into small area elements, approximating the area of each element, adding them together, then taking the limit as the number of elements goes to infinity. You can find a good discussion with examples here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_sum

Answer 2

www.doyourownhomework.com