It seems a trivial thing, area. In these days of satellite imposed grids knowing the size of a space hardly seems a bother. But, it is a task that has for much of history has kept many a bright mind occupied. It was the genius of Newton that gave us Calculus and for the first time, after at least three millennia of trying, we were at last able to find the true area inside curved lines. It is only now, in the last fifty years, that radio and rocketry and relativity have given us the GPS systems that allow us to know the area of any place on Earth without laborious effort. Such is the story of humanity, we solve problems so we may have the luxury of forgetting they ever existed.