4.2 The Definite Integral

4.2 The Definite Integral

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The Definite Integral

We have seen that a limit of the form

arises when we compute an area.

We also saw that it arises when we try to find the distance traveled by an object.

It turns out that this same type of limit occurs in a wide variety of situations even when f is not necessarily a positive function.

The Definite Integral

Note 1: The symbol

∫

It is an elongated S and was chosen because an integral is

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The Definite Integral

In the notation f(x) is called the integrand and a and b are called the limits of integration; a is the lower limit and b is the upper limit.

For now, the symbol dx has no meaning by itself;

is all one symbol.

The dx simply indicates that the independent variable is x.

The procedure of calculating an integral is called integration.

The Definite Integral

Note 2: The definite integral is a number; it does not depend on x. In fact, we could use any letter in place of x without changing the value of the integral:

Note 3: The sum

that occurs in Definition 2 is called a Riemann sum after the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann

(1826–1866).

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The Definite Integral

So Definition 2 says that the definite integral of an

integrable function can be approximated to within any desired degree of accuracy by a Riemann sum.

We know that if f happens to be positive, then the

Riemann sum can be interpreted as a sum of areas of approximating rectangles (see Figure 1).

Figure 1

If f(x) ≥ 0, the Riemann sum Σf (x_i*) ∆x is the sum of areas of rectangles.

The Definite Integral

We see that the definite integral can be

interpreted as the area under the curve y = f(x) from a to b.

(See Figure 2.)

If f(x) ≥ 0, the integral is the area under the curve y = f(x) from a to b.

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The Definite Integral

If f takes on both positive and negative values, as in

Figure 3, then the Riemann sum is the sum of the areas of the rectangles that lie above the x-axis and the negatives of the areas of the rectangles that lie below the x-axis (the

areas of the blue rectangles minus the areas of the gold rectangles).

Figure 3

Σf(x_i*) ∆x is an approximation to the net area.

The Definite Integral

When we take the limit of such Riemann sums, we get the situation illustrated in Figure 4. A definite integral can be interpreted as a net area, that is, a difference of areas:

where A₁ is the area of the region above the x-axis and below the graph of f, and A₂ is the area of the

region below the x-axis and above the graph of f.

Figure 4

is the net area.

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The Definite Integral

Note 4: Although we have defined by dividing [a, b] into subintervals of equal width, there are situations in which it is advantageous to work with subintervals of

unequal width.

If the subinterval widths are ∆x₁, ∆x₂, . . . , ∆x_n, we have to ensure that all these widths approach 0 in the limiting

process. This happens if the largest width, max ∆x_i,

approaches 0. So in this case the definition of a definite integral becomes

The Definite Integral

Note 5: We have defined the definite integral for an

integrable function, but not all functions are integrable. The following theorem shows that the most commonly occurring functions are in fact integrable. The theorem is proved in more advanced courses.

If f is integrable on [a, b], then the limit in Definition 2 exists and gives the same value no matter how we choose the sample points .

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The Definite Integral

To simplify the calculation of the integral we often take the sample points to be right endpoints. Then = x_i and the definition of an integral simplifies as follows.

Example 1

Express

as an integral on the interval [0, π].

Solution:

Comparing the given limit with the limit in Theorem 4, we see that they will be identical if we choose

f(x) = x³ + x sin x. We are given that a = 0 and b = π. Therefore, by Theorem 4, we have

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The Definite Integral

When Leibniz chose the notation for an integral, he chose the ingredients as reminders of the limiting process.

In general, when we write

we replace lim Σ by

∫

Evaluating Integrals

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Evaluating Integrals

When we use a limit to evaluate a definite integral, we need to know how to work with sums. The following three

equations give formulas for sums of powers of positive integers.

Evaluating Integrals

The remaining formulas are simple rules for working with sigma notation:

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Example 2

(a) Evaluate the Riemann sum for f(x) = x³ – 6x, taking the sample points to be right endpoints and a = 0, b = 3,

and n = 6.

(b) Evaluate

Solution:

(a) With n = 6 the interval width is

and the right endpoints are x₁ = 0.5, x₂ = 1.0 , x₃ = 1.5, x₄ = 2.0, x₅ = 2.5, and x₆ = 3.0.

Example 2 – Solution

So the Riemann sum is

R₆ = f(x_i) ∆x

= f(0.5) ∆x + f(1.0) ∆x + f(1.5) ∆x + f(2.0) ∆x + f(2.5) ∆x + f(3.0) ∆x

= (–2.875 – 5 – 5.625 – 4 + 0.625 + 9)

= –3.9375

cont’d

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Example 2 – Solution

Notice that f is not a positive function and so the Riemann sum does not represent a sum of areas of rectangles. But it does represent the sum of the areas of the blue rectangles (above the x-axis) minus the sum of the areas of the gold rectangles (below the x-axis) in Figure 5.

Figure 5

cont’d

Example 2 – Solution

(b) With n subintervals we have

So x₀ = 0, x₁ = 3/n, x₂ = 6/n, x₃ = 9/n, and, in general, x_i = 3i/n.

Since we are using right endpoints, we can use Theorem 4:

cont’d

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Example 2 – Solution

(Equation 9 with c = 3/n)

(Equations 11 and 9)

(Equations 7 and 5)

cont’d

Example 2 – Solution

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Example 2 – Solution

This integral can’t be interpreted as an area because f takes on both positive and negative values. But it can be interpreted as the difference of areas A₁ – A₂, where A₁ and A₂ are shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6

cont’d

Example 2 – Solution

Figure 7 illustrates the calculation by showing the positive and negative terms in the right Riemann sum R_n for n = 40.

R₄₀ ≈ –6.3998

cont’d

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Example 2 – Solution

The values in the table show the Riemann sums

approaching the exact value of the integral, –6.75, as n ^→

cont’d

The Midpoint Rule

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The Midpoint Rule

We often choose the sample point to be the right

endpoint of the ith subinterval because it is convenient for computing the limit.

But if the purpose is to find an approximation to an integral, it is usually better to choose to be the midpoint of the interval, which we denote by

The Midpoint Rule

Any Riemann sum is an approximation to an integral, but if we use midpoints we get the following approximation.

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Example 5

Use the Midpoint Rule with n = 5 to approximate

Solution:

The endpoints of the five subintervals are 1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0, so the midpoints are 1.1, 1.3, 1.5, 1.7, and 1.9.

The width of the subintervals is ∆x = (2 – 1)/5 = so the Midpoint Rule gives

Example 5 – Solution

≈ 0.691908

Since f(x) = 1/x > 0 for 1 ≤ x ≤ 2, the integral represents an area, and the approximation given by the Midpoint Rule is the sum of the areas of the rectangles

shown in Figure 11.

cont’d

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Properties of the Definite Integral

Properties of the Definite Integral

When we defined the definite integral , we implicitly assumed that a < b.

But the definition as a limit of Riemann sums makes sense even if a > b.

Notice that if we reverse a and b, then ∆x changes from (b – a)/n to (a – b)/n. Therefore

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Properties of the Definite Integral

If a = b, then ∆x = 0 and so

We now develop some basic properties of integrals that will help us to evaluate integrals in a simple manner. We

assume that f and g are continuous functions.

Properties of the Definite Integral

Property 1 says that the integral of a constant function f(x) = c is the constant times the length of the interval.

If c > 0 and a < b, this

is to be expected because c(b – a) is the area of the shaded rectangle in

Figure 13.

Figure 13

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Properties of the Definite Integral

Property 2 says that the integral of a sum is the sum of the integrals.

For positive functions it says that the area under f + g is the area under f plus the area under g.

Figure 14 helps us understand why this is true: in view of how graphical addition works, the corresponding vertical line segments have equal height.

Figure 14

Properties of the Definite Integral

In general, Property 2 follows from Theorem 4 and the fact that the limit of a sum is the sum of the limits:

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Properties of the Definite Integral

Property 3 can be proved in a similar manner and says that the integral of a constant times a function is the constant times the integral of the function.

In other words, a constant (but only a constant) can be taken in front of an integral sign.

Property 4 is proved by writing f – g = f + (–g) and using Properties 2 and 3 with c = –1.

Example 6

Use the properties of integrals to evaluate Solution:

Using Properties 2 and 3 of integrals, we have

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Example 6 – Solution

We know from Property 1 that

and we have found that So

cont’d

Properties of the Definite Integral

The next property tells us how to combine integrals of the same function over adjacent intervals.

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Properties of the Definite Integral

This is not easy to prove in general, but for the case

where f(x) ≥ 0 and a < c < b Property 5 can be seen from the geometric interpretation in Figure 15: the area under y = f(x) from a to c plus the area from c to b is equal to the total area from a to b.

Figure 15

Properties of the Definite Integral

Properties 1–5 are true whether a < b, a = b, or a > b. The following properties, in which we compare sizes of

functions and sizes of integrals, are true only if a ≤ b.

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Properties of the Definite Integral

If f(x) ≥ 0, then represents the area under the graph of f, so the geometric interpretation of Property 6 is simply that areas are positive. (It also follows directly from the definition because all the quantities involved are

positive.)

Property 7 says that a bigger function has a bigger integral.

It follows from Properties 6 and 4 because f – g ≥ 0.

Properties of the Definite Integral

Property 8 is illustrated by Figure 16 for the case where f(x) ≥ 0.

If f is continuous we could take m and M to be the absolute minimum and maximum values of f on the interval [a, b].

Figure 16

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Properties of the Definite Integral

In this case Property 8 says that the area under the graph of f is greater than the area of the rectangle with height m and less than the area of the rectangle with height M.

Property 8 is useful when all we want is a rough estimate of the size of an integral without going to the bother of using the Midpoint Rule.