Summing areas within larger areas

Posted by Darren Johnson on Aug 12, 2008; 4:53pm
URL: http://imagej.273.s1.nabble.com/Summing-areas-within-larger-areas-tp3695399.html

Hello all,

I have only been using ImageJ for a couple of weeks but have found it very useful in my research. I am looking for a way to sum smaller areas that reside in larger areas. For example, I have an image showing several hundred grains that I have done particle analysis on and therefore have the outlines (and areas) of each of the individual grains. I also have an image that shows iron bearing minerals within these grains. I have done a separate particle analysis on the iron bearing image and also have the outlines for them. I was wondering if there is a way to use the separate outline images to sum all of the small areas (iron bearing minerals) that lie within the boundaries of larger areas (i.e. each individual grain). An added bonus would be if I could retain the original numbers associated with individual grain image, although this is not as important. It is virtually impossible to manually do this because some of the grains may have 40 to 50 Fe bearing minerals (small areas) so the numbers overlap and are difficult to distinguish.


Thanks,
 
Darren Johnson
Washington University in St. Louis