The problem of the definition area of a skew ruled surface: Peano and Lebesgue (Q1039934)

The definition of the area of a surface, given by \textit{P. Serret} [Cours de calcul différentielle et intégral. Gauthier-Villars: Paris (1879)] was flawed. This had been independently recognized around 1890 by Hermann Amandus Schwarz and Giuseppe Peano. The authors discuss the way which led to an acceptable definition of the aera of a surface in the work of Peano and in Lebesgue's \textsl{Thèse} of 1902. Main emphasis they also lay upon the geometric aspects of all the different approaches toward a suitable definition of the area of surfaces, particularly of non-developable ones.