Rectangles to Cover an Oval

The Rectangles to Cover an Oval calculator computes the number of rectangles needed to cover an oval or ellipse based on the dimensions of the ellipse and the length and width of the rectangles.

INSTRUCTIONS: Choose units and enter the following:

• (A) Semi-Major Axis of Ellipse
• (B) Semi-Minor Axis of Ellipse
• (L) Length of Rectangle
• (W) Width of Rectangle

Rectangles to Cover an Oval (nR): The results the following:

• (n) Number of rows of rectangles
• (nRec) Total Number of Rectangles using partial rectangle on the end (trimmings)
• (TL) Total Length of trimmed rectangles
• (xTrim) Total Number of Rectangles if only whole rectangles can be used.
• (Rn) Length of individual rows of rectangles.

The Math / Science

The Rectangles to Cover an Ellipse algorithm steps down the ellipse and computes the number of rows based on the width and then the ideal length of each row to cover the circle fully.  This algorithm provides BOTH the number of rectangles need:

1. assuming the reuse of trimmed rectangle pieces and,
2. assuming trimmed pieces are discarded.

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