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IntroductiontoIntegration

IntroductiontoIntegration
Integrationisawayofaddingslicestofindthewhole.
Integrationcanbeusedtofindareas,volumes,centralpointsandmanyusefulthings.
Butitiseasiesttostartwithfindingtheareaunderthecurveofafunctionlikethis:

Whatistheareaundery=f(x)?

Slices

Wecouldcalculatethefunctionatafewpointsandaddup
slicesofwidthxlikethis(buttheanswerwon'tbevery
accurate):

Wecanmakexalotsmallerandaddupmanysmall
slices(answerisgettingbetter):

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Andastheslicesapproachzeroinwidth,theanswer
approachesthetrueanswer.

Wenowwritedxtomeanthexslicesareapproaching
zeroinwidth.

That is a lot of adding up!

Butwedon'thavetoaddthemup,asthereisa"shortcut".Because...

...findinganIntegralisthereverseoffindingaDerivative.
(Soyoushouldreallyknowabout Derivatives beforereadingmore!)
Likehere:

Example:Whatisanintegralof2x?

Weknowthatthederivativeofx2is2x...

...soanintegralof2xisx2

Youwillseemoreexampleslater.

Notation

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Thesymbolfor"Integral"isastylish"S"
(for"Sum",theideaofsummingslices):

AftertheIntegralSymbolweputthefunctionwewanttofindtheintegralof(calledthe
Integrand),
andthenfinishwithdxtomeantheslicesgointhexdirection(andapproachzeroin
width).
Andhereishowwewritetheanswer:

Plus C
Wewrotetheanswerasx2butwhy +C ?
Itisthe"ConstantofIntegration".Itistherebecauseofallthefunctionswhose
derivativeis2x:

Thederivativeofx2+4is2x,andthederivativeofx2+99isalso2x,andsoon!
Becausethederivativeofaconstantiszero.
Sowhenwereversetheoperation(tofindtheintegral)weonlyknow2x,butthere
couldhavebeenaconstantofanyvalue.
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Sowewrapuptheideabyjustwriting +C attheend.

Tap and Tank

Integrationislikefillingatankfromatap.
Theinput(beforeintegration)istheflowratefromthetap.
Integratingtheflow(addingupallthelittlebitsofwater)gives
usthevolumeofwaterinthetank.

Imaginetheflowstartsat0andgraduallyincreases(maybeamotorisslowlyopening
thetap).
Astheflowrateincreases,thetankfillsup
fasterandfaster.
Withaflowrateof2x,thetankfillsupat
x2.
Wehaveintegratedtheflowtogetthe
volume.

Example:(assumingtheflowisinlitersperminute)after3minutes(x=3):
theflowratehasreached2x=23=6liters/min,
andthevolumehasreachedx2=32=9liters.

Wecandothereverse,too:
Imagineyoudon'tknowtheflowrate.
Youonlyknowthevolumeisincreasingbyx2.
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IntroductiontoIntegration

Wecangoinreverse(usingthederivative,
whichgivesustheslope)andfindthatthe
flowrateis2x.

Example:at2minutestheslopeofthevolumeis4,meaningitisincreasing
at4liters/minute,whichistheflowrate.Likewiseat3minutestheslopeis6,
etc.

SoIntegralandDerivativeareopposites.

Wecanwritethatdownthisway:

Theintegraloftheflowrate2xtellsusthevolumeofwater:

Andtheslopeofthevolumeincreasex2+Cgivesusbacktheflow
rate:

2xdx=x2+
C

(x2+C)=2x

Andhey,weevengetaniceexplanationof
that"C"value...maybethetankalready
haswaterinit!
Theflowstillincreasesthevolume
bythesameamount
Andtheincreaseinvolumecan
giveusbacktheflowrate.

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IntroductiontoIntegration

Whichteachesustoalwaysadd"+C".

Other functions
Well,wehaveplayedwithy=2xenoughnow,sohowdoweintegrateotherfunctions?
Ifweareluckyenoughtofindthefunctionontheresultsideofaderivative,then
(knowingthatderivativesandintegralsareopposites)wehaveananswer.But
remembertoaddC.

Example:whatiscos(x)dx?
Fromthe RulesofDerivativestable weseethe
derivativeofsin(x)iscos(x)so:

cos(x)dx=sin(x)+C

Butalotofthis"reversing"hasalreadybeendone(see RulesofIntegration ).

Example:Whatisx3dx?
On RulesofIntegration thereisa"PowerRule"thatsays:

xndx=xn+1/(n+1)+C
Wecanusethatrulewithn=3:

x3dx=x4/4+C
KnowinghowtousethoserulesisthekeytobeinggoodatIntegration.
Sogettoknowthoserulesandgetlotsofpractice.

Learnthe RulesofIntegration andPractice!Practice!Practice!

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(therearesomequestionsbelow)

Definite vs Indefinite Integrals

WehavebeendoingIndefiniteIntegralssofar.
ADefiniteIntegralhasactualvaluestocalculatebetween(theyareputatthebottom
andtopofthe"S"):

IndefiniteIntegral

DefiniteIntegral

Read DefiniteIntegrals tolearnmore.

Question1Question2Question3Question4
Question5Question6Question7Question8
Question9Question10

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IntroductiontoIntegration

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