Integral of an affine function over a simplex
ID: integral-of-an-affine-function-over-a-simplex
For a nondegenerate -dimensional simplex with vertices and an affine function , the integral equals the volume times the value at the centroid . To prove this, write in a barycentric coordinate system. On the standard simplex, symmetry permuting the vertices gives equal integrals of all ; since , each is . An invertible affine map transfers this result to any simplex. Affineness gives , so linearity of integration proves the formula. For a tetrahedron the factor is one quarter. The rule is exact for affine integrands; a nonlinear integrand generally needs additional moments.
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