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Sarah Lewandowski
Mr. Acre
AP Calculus
3 March 2014
The Derivative and the Integral
The derivative, the integral, and the relationship between the derivative and the integral
are a few of the most fundamental concepts of calculus. These concepts can be explored and
applied in a variety of ways. The derivative and the integral will be explained through the use of
graphs, functions, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, the Mean Value Theorem, the
Intermediate Value Theorem, and specific examples of each.
The derivative can be thought of in more than one way. One definition of the derivative is
the instantaneous rate of change, or the change in y over the change in x,

. The derivative of
f(x) is

()

()()

, where h is the change in x. As the change in x approaches

zero, this will give the rate of change of the function at any specific point because dy is infinitely
small and dx is infinitely small. For example, for a sample function ()

()

[()

()]

. This is simplified to

()

.
The hs cancel out, and only

()

is left. When the limit is evaluated,

zero is plugged in for h, and one is left with

() . Using f(x), the rate of change of

f(x) at any point x can be found. For example, the instantaneous rate of change of f(x) at x=3 is
f(3) = 10(3) 4 = 26.
Another way of thinking about the derivative is graphically. The derivative is the slope of
a function at any specific point, or the slope of a tangent line to the function at that specific point.
Figure 1 shows the line tangent to the function f(x) at the point g, f(g). However, there cannot be
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a slope to only a point. The point exists, but there is no
slope because there is no change in y or change in x. So, to
find the slope of a tangent line to the graph at a point, one
can find the slope of lines created near that point with
smaller and smaller dxs and dys. This is shown in Figure
2. The slope of the tangent line is found by taking
Figure 1. Tangent Line

()()

The numerator is the change in y, found

by subtracting the y value at point x from the y value at x plus
the change in x, and the denominator is the change in x. As dx
becomes closer to zero, this will find the slope of lines
closer to the point x, which will eventually find the slope at point
x. This is essentially the same process that was used before,
showing that there are different ways of thinking about the Figure 2. dx and dy
derivative, but the derivative always means the same thing.
The integral is the anti-derivative, because taking the integral is the opposite of taking the
derivative. The integral is defined as the area under the curve. For
example, Figure 3 shows the integral from a to b of the function f(x),
or ()

. To find the area under the

curve, one must find the product of the x and
Figure 3. Integral y variables. To do this, infinitely many
rectangles are created with length f(x) and width dx. This is shown in
Figure 4. The top of the blue rectangle appears to be curved, but when
dx becomes infinitely small, the top will not be curved; it will simply Figure 4. Rectangle
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become a rectangle. The area of each of these infinitely many rectangles is found by multiplying
f(x) by dx; then, the total area is found by integrating, or adding up the area of all of these
rectangles from a to b. The integral from b to a, or ()

would be the same area but with

the opposite sign because it is going backwards from b to a.
The derivative and integral can be applied in many different areas. Anything that changes
has a rate of change, which can be found by using a derivative. One of the most common
examples of this is velocity. Given a graph of velocity, the derivative would be acceleration and
the integral would be distance. Figure 5 shows a sample velocity
graph in red, with its derivative acceleration in purple, and its
integral distance in blue. Since the integral is the anti-
derivative, one can think of the velocity as the derivative of the
distance. The distance graph shown here shows a parabolic arc,
which is very common in physical applications. The velocity is
the rate of change of the distance graph. Notice that when the
Figure 5. Distance Graph distance graph is increasing to its
maximum point, the velocity is positive and decreasing. This means
that any tangent line drawn to the distance graph before it reaches its
maximum will have a positive slope (Figure 6), and these positive
slopes are decreasing. When the distance is at its maximum, the
tangent line to the graph at this point will have a slope of zero (Figure
7). This means that the velocity at this point will be zero. Notice that Figure 6. Tangent Line
the maximum of the distance graph is indeed where the velocity graph crosses the x-axis. After
the distance reaches its maximum point, it starts to decrease. Any tangent line drawn to the
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distance graph after this point will have a negative slope, meaning that the velocity graph after
this point is negative, and increasingly negative. Velocity is the change in distance over the
change in time, or the rate of change of the distance,

; it is the
derivative of distance with respect to time. Acceleration is the
rate of change of velocity, or the change in velocity over the
change in time,

. Acceleration works the same way for velocity

as velocity does for distance, because they are both derivatives.
Notice in Figure 5 that the acceleration is constant and negative.
This is because any tangent line drawn to the velocity graph will
Figure 7. Tangent Line be negative with the same slope. This slope will be the slope of
the velocity graph, therefore the acceleration remains constant. The units can be determined
when finding derivative functions such as these. Let the units of distance in this case be meters.
If time is in seconds, then the units of velocity will be meters per second, because velocity is the
change in meters per each second. The units of acceleration will be the change in velocity per
second, or meters per second per second, or meters per second squared. Distance is also the
integral of velocity, so finding the area under the velocity graph will give the distance.
A critical point on a graph is a point where the derivative is equal to zero or is undefined.
A critical point on the original function can be found by looking at the first or second derivative
graph and observing where these are equal to zero or undefined. Figure 8 shows a graph f(x) and
its original function f(x). The function f(x) is what was originally given, and f(x) was created by
looking at f(x). Note that f(x) can be translated up or down since there is no point in f(x) given.
Looking at f(x), one can see that it is positive until point b. This means that the tangent lines of
f(x) are positive until point b, so f(x) is increasing until point b. After point b, f(x) is negative
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until point d, meaning that f(x) must be
decreasing until point d. One knows that f(x) is
decreasing because the tangent lines of f(x)
have negative slopes. At point b and point d,
f(x) is equal to zero. This means that f(x) has
critical points at b and d. At point b, f(x)
changes from positive to negative, meaning that
Figure 8. f(x) and f(x) f(x) changes from increasing to decreasing, so
f(x) has a maximum at point b. At point d, f(x) goes from negative to positive, meaning that f(x)
goes from decreasing to increasing, so f(x) has a minimum at point d. Where the first derivative
has maximums or minimums, the second derivative has zeroes. This is where points of inflection
occur on the original graph. These occur at points a and c. Before point a, f(x) is increasing,
which means that f(x) is concave up until point a. At point a, f(x) has a maximum, so there is a
point of inflection on f(x), meaning that the concavity changes. From point a to point c, f(x) is
decreasing, which means that f(x) is concave down. At point c, there is another change in
concavity because f(x) has a minimum. After point c, f(x) is increasing, so f(x) is concave up.
Part 2 of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus states that if f is a continuous function
and F is an antiderivative of f on the interval [a,b], then () () ()

. This explains
how to evaluate an integral algebraically, whereas before it had only been thought of graphically.
For example, to evaluate the integral from 0 to 2 of f(x)=cos(x), by using the Fundamental
Theorem it will be ()

. F is the antiderivative of f, so F=sin(x). ()

is equal
to sin(2) sin(0). From this one can reach Part 1 of the Fundamental Theorem. Part 1 of the
Fundamental Theorem of Calculus states that if f is a continuous function and a is a number in
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the domain of f and () ()

, then

() (). This is basically saying that g(x) is

the integral of f(t) when evaluated from a to x. The best way to explain this is through a sample
problem. What is

()

? It will look like ( )

. Where there is
a t, cos(x) and x
2
are put in, including the chain rule, and they are subtracted. The Mean Value
Theorem states that if f(x) is defined and continuous on the interval [a,b] and differentiable on
(a,b), then there is at least one number c in the
interval (a,b) (that is a < c < b) such that

()
()()

. This means that there exists a

point c between a and b where the tangent line
through c is parallel to the line passing through a
and b (Figure 9). Evaluating f(c) will give the
slope of the line parallel to the line passing Figure 9. Mean Value Theorem
through a and b. To understand the Intermediate Value Theorem, let f (x) be a continuous
function on the interval [a, b]. If d [f (a), f (b)],
then there is a c [a, b] such that f (c) = d. This is
basically saying that if there are f(a) and f(b) values
on a graph with d between them, there exists a c
value between a and b such that f(c)=d. This is
shown in Figure 10. It is clear that between f(a) and
f(b) there is a d value, and that d value corresponds
to a c value on the graph.
Let f be a function defined on the closed interval -5 x 5 with f(1) = 3. The graph of f,
the derivative of f, consists of two semicircles and two line segments, as shown in Figure 11. The
b c
Figure 10. Intermediate Value Theorem
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graph of f has a relative maximum at x = -3 and x = 4, or
where f equals zero and goes from positive to negative.
The graph of f has points of inflection at x = -4, x = -1, and
x = 2, or where the minimums and maximums are at on f.
The graph of f is concave up and has a positive slope when
-5 < x < -4, and when 1 < x < 2. This is because on these
intervals, f is increasing and is also positive, which
Figure 11. f and f means f must be concave up and increasing.
The derivative and the integral are fundamental concepts in calculus. There are many
ways of describing the derivative and the integral, and also many techniques to help out when
working with these tools. A thorough knowledge of these concepts will lead to better
understanding of calculus topics.