Tai's model

Tai's model is a method of estimating the area under a curve by dividing the area into simple polygons and summing their totals, proposed in 1994 by nutrition scholar Mary M. Tai in the journal Diabetes Care for finding the total area under glucose tolerance and other metabolic curves. The method is in fact the trapezoidal rule, a basic technique of calculus used by Babylonian astronomers before 50 BCE and again independently by English and French astronomers in the 14th century. Several scholars objected in letters to the journal to naming it Tai's model and to presenting a method taught in undergraduate calculus as a new discovery. Tai replied that she had derived it independently in 1981 and had published it at the request of colleagues who already called it Tai's formula. The paper has been cited over 500 times as of March 2025, and the episode is used as a cautionary tale about checking the originality of one's work before publishing.