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Integrals, together with derivatives, are the fundamental objects of calculus. Other words for integral
include antiderivative and primitive. The Riemann integral is the simplest integral definition and the only
one usually encountered in physics and elementary calculus. In fact, according to Jeffreys and Jeffreys
(1988, p. 29), "it appears that cases where these methods [i.e., generalizations of the Riemann integral]
are applicable and Riemann's [definition of the integral] is not are too rare in physics to repay the extra
difficulty."
(1
(2
as opposed to .
Every definition of an integral is based on a particular measure. For instance, the Riemann integral is
based on Jordan measure, and the Lebesgue integral is based on Lebesgue measure. The process of
computing an integral is called integration (a more archaic term for integration is quadrature), and the
There are two classes of (Riemann) integrals: definite integrals such as (1), which have upper and lower
limits, and indefinite integrals, such as
(3
which are written without limits. The first fundamental theorem of calculus allows definite integrals to be
computed in terms of indefinite integrals, since if is the indefinite integral for , then
(4
Since the derivative of a constant is zero, indefinite integrals are defined only up to an arbitrary constant
of integration , i.e.,
(5
Wolfram Research maintains a web site http://integrals.wolfram.com/ that can find the indefinite
Differentiating integrals leads to some useful and powerful identities. For instance, if is continuous,
then
(6
which is the first fundamental theorem of calculus. Other derivative-integral identities include
(7
(8
(9
(10)
as can be seen by applying (9) on the left side of (10) and using partial integration.
(11)
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
Integrals with rational exponents can often be solved by making the substitution , where is the