At the end of this section you should be able to:

1. Explain what the area moment of inertia is

2. Calculate area moment of inertia of composite shape about vertical- and horizontal centroidal axes using tabular method

Area Moments of Inertia explains what the area moment of inertia (second moment of area) is and how to calculate it for composite cross sections. You will compute the area moments of inertia about the vertical and horizontal centroidal axes (often written as Ix and Iy) using a clear tabular method, which helps you quantify how a shape’s area is distributed relative to an axis. The page also includes supporting Mathematica code to speed up calculations and check results.