The final step of the analytical procedure is to calculate the weight of each member
based on its cross-sectional area, length, and the material density. Recall that seven different
loading conditions were examined in the analysis, which results in seven sets of crosssectional
areas for each member. To ensure that the component will not fail under any of
the seven loading conditions, the maximum cross-sectional area from the sets is selected as
the final design value. Component weights are then calculated by multiplying each of the
cross-sectional areas by the corresponding length and material density. The summation of
these calculations then becomes the structural weight of the idealized analytical model.