kooldino, that of course is useful to know where in the rpm range the power gain lies, HOWEVER, when comparing two mods with comparable performance gains, one cannot clearly see which mod or product produces more power (for straight line speed). Area under the curve can be calculated by interpolating values between "known" points or plotted points of the graph. If you've taken calculus you should know that there are different methods of interpolation, the simplest one using the midpoint of the given x range and y range and multiplying it by the y value to estimate the area for the specified x interval.
to put what i'm proposing into practice think of this: two cai's from different manufacturers where brand A claims peak power gain of 5whp and brand B claims peak power gain of 7wph, but upon looking at the graphs of the two products you can't really tell which one is actually "better" while it is easy to assume brand B of 7whp gain is better when in fact it may not be. Brand A may in fact have a new torque curve that the total area between it and the stock torque curve totals to a greater # than that of brand B's. This translates into a faster straightline times with brand A vs brand B. HOWEVER, in an autocross type situation where you're not using the whole rpm range you might find that product B of 7whp peak gain is in fact more advantageous b/c you would be aiming to keep the engine in it's peak powerband for the duration of the autocross. But then what i propose is again the same for comparing products. To compare the areas of the segment of the rpm range you're using most at any time allows you to clearly determine which product is superior (ie, brand A still might be better than brand B in this case).