Calc 2 Module 2
Calc 2 Module 2
Definite Integrals
Module 2
Application of
Definite
Integrals
Introduction
As noted in the first section of Module 1, there are two
kinds of integrals and to this point we’ve looked at indefinite
integrals. It is now time to start thinking about the second
kind of integral : Definite Integrals. However, before we do
that we’re going to take a look at the Area Problem. The area
problem is where we apply definite integrals in the same way
as tangent and rate of change problems are applications of
derivatives.
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Learning
Evaluate definite integrals and
solve problems involving area Outcome
using integration.
Content
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To start off we are going to assume that we’ve got a function f(x) that is
positive on some interval [a,b]. What we want to do is determine the
area of the region between the function and the x-axis.
It’s probably easiest to see how we do this with an example. So, let’s
determine the area between f(x)=x2 +1 on [0,2]. In other words, we want
to determine the area of the shaded region below.
b−a
Δx = n
function value at the right endpoint of each interval to define the height
of the rectangle. This gives,
Note that by choosing the height as we did each of the rectangles will
overestimate the area since each rectangle takes in more area than the
graph each time. Now let’s estimate the area. First, the width of each of
1
the rectangles is 2 . The height of each rectangle is determined by the
function value at the right endpoint and so the height of each rectangle
is nothing more that the function value at the right endpoint.
1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1
Ar = 2 f( 2 ) + 2 f(1)+ 2 f( 2 ) )+ 2 f( 2 ¿+ 2 f(2 ¿
1 5
() 1
( )
1 13
= 2 4 + )+ 2 (2)+ 2 4 + 2 (5)
1
= 5.75
1 1 1 1 1 3
Al = f (0) + f ( )+ f ( 1 ) + f( 2 )
2 2 2 2 2
1 1 5 1 1 13
= 2 ( 1 )+ )+ 2 ( 4 )+ 2 ( 2 )+ 2 ( 4 )
= 3.75
There is one more common point for getting the heights of the
rectangles that is often more accurate. Instead of using the right or left
endpoints of each sub interval we could take the midpoint of each
subinterval as the height of each rectangle. The graph for this case is
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So, it looks like each rectangle will over and under estimate the area.
This means that the approximation this time should be much better than
the previous two choices of points. Here is the estimation for this case.
1 1 1 3 1 5 1 7
Am = 2 f ( 4 ) + 2 f ( 4 )+ 2 f ( 4 )+ 2 f ( 4 )
( )
1 17 1 25 1 41
( )
= 2 16 + 2 ( 16 )+ 2 16 + 2 ( 16 )
1 65
= 4.625
We’ve now got three estimates. For comparison’s sake the exact area is
14
A = 3 = 4.666
So, both the right and left endpoint estimation did not do all that great of
a job at the estimation. The midpoint estimation however did quite well.
Be careful not to draw any conclusion about how choosing each of the
points will affect our estimation. In this case, because we are working
with an increasing function, choosing the right endpoints will
overestimate and choosing left endpoint will underestimate.
Ar=5.1875 Al=4.1875
Am=4.65625
So, increasing the number of rectangles did improve the accuracy of the
estimation as we’d guessed that it would.
Solution
First, let’s get the graph to make sure that the function is positive.
So, the graph is positive and the width of each subinterval will be,
4
Δx = 5 = 0.8
Let’s first look at using the right endpoints for the function height. Here
is the graph for this case.
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The area estimation using the left endpoints of each interval for the
rectangle height is,
Finally, let’s take a look at the midpoints for the heights of each
rectangle. Here is the graph,
31
76
A = 3 =25.333
So, again the midpoint did a better job than the other two. While this will
be the case more often than not, it won’t always be the case and so
don’t expect this to always happen.
Now, let’s move on to the general case. Let’s start out with f(x)≥0
on [a,b] and we’ll divide the interval into n subintervals each of length,
b−a
Δx = n
Note that the subintervals don’t have to be equal length, but it will make
our work significantly easier. The endpoints of each subinterval are,
x0 =a
x1 = a + Δx
x2 = a + 2Δx
xi = a + iΔx
xn−1 = a + (n−1)Δx
xn = a + nΔx =b
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[x0,x1],[x1,x2],…,[xi-1,xi],…,[xn-1,xn]
¿ ¿ ¿ ¿
we choose a point x 1 , x 2,…, x i ,… x n. These points will define the height of
the rectangle in each subinterval. Note as well that these points do not
have to occur at the same point in each subinterval. However, they are
usually the left end point of the interval, right end point of the interval or
the midpoint of the interval.
The area under the curve on the given interval is then approximately,
¿ ¿ ¿ ¿
A ≈ f( x 1)Δx+f( x 2)Δx+⋯+f( x i )Δx+⋯+f( x n)Δx
A ≈ ∑ f ¿ ¿)Δx
i=1
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n → ∞ i=1
Before leaving this section let’s address one more issue. To this point
we’ve required the function to be positive. Many functions are not
positive however. Consider the case of f(x)=x2 − 4 on [0,2]. If we
use n = 8 and the midpoints for the rectangle height we get the
following graph,
In this case let’s notice that the function lies completely below the x-axis
and hence is always negative. If we ignore the fact that the function is
always negative and use the same ideas above to estimate the area
between the graph and the x-axis we get,
1 1 1 3 1 5 1 7 1 9 1 11 1 13 1
Am = f( )+ 4 f( 8 )+ 4 f( 8 )+ 4 f( 8 )+ 4 f( 8 )+ 4 f( 8 )+ 4 f( 8 )+ 4
4 8
15
f( 8 )
=−5.34375
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Our answer is negative as we might have expected given that all the
function evaluations are negative.
So, using the technique in this section it looks like if the function is
above the x-axis we will get a positive area and if the function is below
the x-axis we will get a negative area. Now, what about a function that is
both positive and negative in the interval? For example, f(x) = x2 −2 on
[0,2]. Using n=8 and midpoints the graph is,
Some of the rectangles are below the x-axis and so will give negative
areas while some are above the x-axis and will give positive areas.
Since more rectangles are below the x-axis than above it looks like we
should probably get a negative area estimation for this case. In fact that
is correct. Here the area estimation for this case.
1 1 1 3 1 5 1 7 1 9 1 11 1 13
Am = f(
4 8
)+ 4
f( 8
)+ f(
4 8
)+ 4
f( 8
)+ f(
4 8
)+ 4
f( 8
)+ f( )+
4 8
1 15
f( )
4 8
= −1.34375
In cases where the function is both above and below the x-axis the
technique given in the section will give the net area between the
function and the x-axis with areas below the x-axis negative and areas
above the x-axis positive. So, if the net area is negative then there is
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more area under the x-axis than above while a positive net area will
mean that more of the area is above the x-axis.
In this section we will formally define the definite integral and discuss its
properties. Let’s start off with the definition of a definite integral.
Definite Integral
∫ f (x )dx = nlim
→∞
∑ ¿
f ( x i )Δx
a i=1
There are also some terminologies that might be familiar to us here. The
number “a” that is at the bottom of the integral sign is called the lower
limit of the integral and the number “b” at the top of the integral sign is
called the upper limit of the integral. Also, despite the fact
that a and b were given as an interval the lower limit does not
necessarily need to be smaller than the upper limit. Collectively we’ll
often call a and b the interval of integration.
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Now, let’s start taking a look at some of the properties of the definite
integral.
Properties
b a
1. ∫ f (x )dx = - ∫ f (x )dx
a b
2. ∫ f (x )dx = 0
a
If the upper and lower limits are the same then there is no work
to do, the integral is zero.
b b
4. ∫ f (x )± g ( x ) dx = ∫ f (x )dx ± ∫ g (x)dx
a a a
|ba= F(b)−F(a)
b
∫ f (x )dx = F(x)
a
Next let’s address the fact that we can use any anti-derivative of f(x) in
the evaluation. Let’s take a final look at the following integral.
2
∫ x 2 +1 dx
0
1 1 18
F(x) = 3 x3 + x and F(x) = 3 x3 +x − 31
∫ x 2 +1 dx = ( 3 x 3 + x− 31 ) 20 |
2
1 18
0
1 3 18
(1 3 18
= 3 ( 2 ) + 2 - 31 - 3 ( 0 ) + 0− 31 )
14 18 18
= 3 - 31 + 31
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14
= 3
∫ x 2 +1 dx
2
Solution
In this case the only difference between the two is that the limits have
interchanged. So, using the first property gives,
0 2
14
∫ x +1 dx = - ∫ x 2 +1 dx
2
=- 3
2 0
∫ 10 x 2 +10 dx
0
Solution
For this part notice that we can factor a 10 out of both terms and then
out of the integral using the third property.
2 2
0 0
= 10 ∫ (x ¿¿ 2+ 1) ¿ dx
0
14
= 10 ( 3 )
39
140
= 3
∫ 10 x 2 +10 dx
130
Solution
There’s nothing for us to do with this integral once we notice that the
limits are the same. Using the second property this is,
130
∫ 10 x 2 +10 dx = 0
130
∫ x 2 +1 dx
0
Solution
∫ x +1 dx = ∫ x +1 dx + ∫ x 2 +1 dx
2 2
0 0 1
1
= 3 x3 + x 0 |1 +
1 3
3
x +x |21
1 1 1 1
= 3 ( 1 )3 + 1 –( 3 ( 0 )3 + 0) + 3 ( 2 )3 + 2 –( 3 ( 1 )3
+ 1)
14
= 3
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Example 6 Evaluate ∫ y 2 + y −2 dy
1
Solution
Recall from our first example above that all we need here is any anti-
derivative of the integrand.
|
2
1 1 2
∫ y 2 + y −2 dy = ( 3 y3 − )
y 1
1
1 1 1
= 3 (2)3 − 2 −( 3 (1)3 −1)
8 1 1
= 3−2 −3 + 1
=176
π
3
Example 7 Evaluate ∫ 2 sinθ−5 cosθdθ.
0
Solution
Be careful with signs with this one. Recall from the indefinite integral
sections that it’s easy to mess up the signs when integrating sine and
cosine.
|
π
3
π
∫ 2 sinθ−5 cosθdθ = (−2 cosθ−5 sinθ ) 30
0
5 √3
= -1 - +2
2
5 √3
=1-
2
−1
3 1
Example 8 Evaluate ∫ e
−z
− dz.
3z
−20
Solution
In order to do this one will need to rewrite both of the terms in the
integral a little as follows,
−1 −1
3 1
∫ e
−z
− dz =
3z
∫ 3 e z− 13 1z dz
−20 −20
For the first term recall we used the following fact about exponents.
1 1
x-a = a −a = x
a
x x
In the second term, taking the 3 out of the denominator will just make
integrating that term easier.
( )|
−1
3 1 1
∫ − dz = 3 e − ln |z| −1
z
−20 e
−z
3z 3 −20
= 3e−1 -
1
3 ( 1
)
ln |−1| - 3 e−20− ln|−20|
3
+1
= 3e−1 – 3 e−20 ln |20|
3
Just leave the answer like this. It’s messy, but it’s also exact.
Note that the absolute value bars on the logarithm are required here.
Without them we couldn’t have done the evaluation.
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f(−x) = f(x)
f(−x) = −f(x)
A couple of things about integrating even and odd functions over the
interval [−a,a] are:
∫ f ( x) dx = 2∫ f (x ) dx
−a 0
∫ f ( x) dx = 0
−a
Solution
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The integrand in the given integral is an odd function simply because if we let
f(x)= x 5−7 x 3 then
= −x 5−7 (−x 3)
= −x 5 +7 x 3
f(-x) = - ( x 5−7 x 3)
Therefore, ∫ x 5−7 x 3 dx = 0.
−2
Solution
The integrand in the given integral is an even function simply because if we let
f(y)= 6 y 5−5 y 4 then
f(-y) = (− y )2−5 (− y )4
= y 2−5 (− y 4 )
= y 2 +5 y 4
Therefore, ∫ 6 y −5 y dy = 2∫ 6 y −5 y dy
2 4 2 4
−1 0
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5 1
= 2 (2 y − y ) 0
3
|
= 2 ( 2 ( 1 )3−( 1 )5 ) - 2( 2 ( 0 )3 −( 0 )5 )
=2
In this section we are going to look at finding the area between two
curves. There are actually two cases that we are going to be looking at.
The second case is almost identical to the first case. Here, we are going
to determine the area between x=f(y) and x=g(y) on the
interval [c,d] with f(y)≥g(y).
A= ∫ f ( y )−g( y) dy → (2)
c
d
¿ )−(¿ function)dy
A = ∫ ( function , c ≤ y ≤ d→(4)
c
Using these formulas will make us think about what is going on with
each problem and to make sure that we’ve identified correctly the right
function and the left function.
Solution
First of all, just what do we mean by “area enclosed by”? This means
that the region we’re interested in must have one of the two curves on
every boundary of the region. So, here is a graph of the two functions
with the enclosed region shaded.
Note that we don’t take any part of the region to the right of the
intersection point of these two graphs. In this region there is no
boundary on the right side and so is not part of the enclosed area.
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Also, from this graph it’s clear that the upper function will be dependent
on the range of x’s that we use. Because of this, you should always
draw a sketch of the region. Without a sketch it’s often easy to mistake
which of the two functions is the larger. In this case most would
probably say that y=x2 is the upper function and they would be right for
the vast majority of the x’s. However, in this case it is the lower of the
two functions.
The limits of integration for this will be the intersection points of the two
curves. In this case it’s easy to see that they will intersect at x = 0 and x
= 1 so these are the limits of integration.
So, the integral that we’ll need to compute to find the area is,
b
upper lower
A= ∫ ( function )−(
function
)dx
a
= ∫ √ x−x 2 dx
0
1 1
= ∫x 2 2
−¿ x ¿ dx
0
2 3
= 3 x2 - 3 x 0
1 3
|1
2 3 1 3 2 32 1 3
= 3 ( 1) - 3 ( 1) - ( 0 ) − (0)
2
3 3 ( )
1
= 3 sq. unit
Solution
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In this case the intersection points (which we’ll need eventually) are not
going to be easily identified from the graph so we need to find them.
Note that for most of these problems you’ll not be able to accurately
identify the intersection points from the graph and so you’ll need to be
able to determine them by hand. In this case we can get the intersection
points by setting the two equations equal.
So, the two curves will intersect at x=−1 and x=3. If we need them we
can get the y values corresponding to each of these by plugging the
values back into either of the equations. We’ll leave it to you to verify
that the coordinates of the two intersection points on the graph
are (−1,12) and (3,28).
Note as well that if you aren’t good at graphing knowing the intersection
points can help in at least getting the graph started. Here is a graph of
the region.
With the graph, we can now identify the upper and lower function and so
we can now find the enclosed area.
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b
upper lower
A= ∫ ( function )−(
function
)dx
a
= ∫ 4 x+16−(2 x 2 +10)dx
−1
= ∫ −2 x 2+ 4 x +6 dx
−1
2 3
= - 3 x + 2 x 2 + 6x −1 |3
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= 3 sq. units
Solution
sin x = cos x
π
in the interval. We’ll leave it to you to verify that this will be x = 4 . The
area is then,
π
π
2
4
A= ∫ cos x−¿ sin x ¿ dx + ∫π sin x−cos x dx
0
4
| |
π
π
2
= (sin x + cos x) 4 + (- cos x - sin x) π
0
4
= √2 – 1 + √2 – 1
= 2√ 2 – 2 = 0.828427
Let’s take a look at one more example to make sure that we can deal
with functions in this form.
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Solution
−y2 +10=(y−2)2
The intersection points are y=−1 and y=3. Here is a sketch of the
region.
This is definitely a region where the second area formula will be easier.
If we used the first formula there would be three different regions that
we’d have to look at.
d
¿ )−(¿ function)dy
A= ∫ ( function
c
= ∫ − y 2 +10− ( y−2 )2 dy
−1
= ∫ −2 y 2+ 4 y +6 dy
−1
2 3
|3
= - 3 y + 2 y 2 + 6y −1 = 3
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Assessment Tasks 2
Estimate the area of the region between the function f(x)=x3 − 2x2+ 4
and the x-axis on [1,4] using n=6 and using,
a. the right end points of the subintervals for the height of the
rectangles,
b. the left end points of the subintervals for the height of the
rectangles and,
Use the properties of integrals with odd and even functions to evaluate
the following integrals:
2 1
1. ∫ x ( 9−x ) d x
2 2
−2
2. ∫ ( y ¿¿ 6+1)(3 y 2+1) dy ¿
−1
2. Determine the area to the left of g(y)=3−y2 and to the right of x=−1.
References
Love and Rainville. Differential and Integral Calculus 6th Ed. Copyright
1962. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc
Ayres and [Link] and Problems of Differential Calculus 3rd ed,
Peterson. Calculus with Analytic Geometry
Smith, R.T. & Minton, R.B. Calculus 3rd ed. Copyright 2007. McGraw-Hill
Co., Inc.
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