Academic Skills Advice

Integration Summary
Notation
You might be given and asked to find , so you will need to integrate.
Or the question might use the integration notation as follows:

Means:

Integrate the following

with respect to

Basic integration of Polynomials

Add 1 to the power then divide the expression by the new power (for every term).
(Remember to include

If:

in case there was a number in the original expression.

then

e.g. find , if

e.g.

Area under a curve (using limits)

To find the area under a curve between 2 points, integrate the curve, substitute both points
in separately then subtract the lower limit from the upper.
Upper limit
5

e.g.

]2

Lower limit

Under the curve

means between the
curve and the -axis.

Now do 2 boxes substituting in the limits:

[
] [
]

= [ ( )

( ) ]

[ ( )

( ) ] = 225 12 = 213

We have found that the area under the curve between

(We didnt need

= 2 and

= 5 is 213.

in each box because it would have cancelled out.)

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Reverse chain rule

For some integration problems (e.g. when you have a function of a function) you will need
to use the reverse chain rule. This is because the original function was differentiated using
the chain rule and so in order to integrate we need to undo the chain rule.
Remember:
Chain rule says:
So reverse chain rule says:
e.g.

e.g.

e.g.

differentiate the inside function and multiply

differentiate the inside function and divide

Outside
(add one to power then
divide by new power)

)
( )
Inside
(we also have to divide by 4 because
) we get 4)
when we differentiate (

Reverse chain rule (some patterns)

( )( ( ))

Sometimes you need to integrate functions of the form:

or

( )
( )

. Functions in

either of these forms are easy to integrate because they follow the chain rule in reverse.

( )( ( ))

( )

Just ignore the 1st bit and integrate the

outside of the 2nd bit (i.e. add one to the

( ( ))

power then divide by the new power).

( )

Differentiates to ln of the
denominator.

( ( ))

Reverse chain rule (with adjustments)

The function you need to integrate may be similar to either of the ones above but the
part may be a factor, or multiple, of ( ). See the following examples:

Question

Ideal Function to integrate

Compare
with ideal

H Jackson 2010/2013 / Academic Skills

=*

Ideal because differentiating

(
) gives .

The question is 3x bigger

than the ideal so the answer =

( )

+
2

Question

Ideal Function to integrate

Compare
with ideal

Ideal because differentiating

(
) gives 1 .

The question is 4x smaller

than the ideal so the answer=

By parts
This is used to integrate a function multiplied by a function.

When choosing which

term to call look for:

1st ()
2nd -
3rd -

Similar to the product and quotient rule (see differentiation) write down the 4 bits of
information you need then put them into the formula. You will then need to integrate the
part in the integral sign again.
Remember: you are calling one bit

and the other bit

Reverse product
You need to remember the product rule for differentiation refer to the differentiation
summary if necessary. Once you have spotted this pattern you can just write the answer.
Differentiates to

Differentiates to

Differentiates to

e.g.

Differentiates to

H Jackson 2010/2013 / Academic Skills

Substitution
A substitution can be used to simplify a complex integration. For this method you need to
replace any or
with a or
and then integrate as normal.
e.g.

)
We can find all of these (and any
others we need) by differentiating
and/or rearranging the

Let
1

so

and

Substitute the above information into the original to produce an integration in terms of .
The question now becomes:

Separation of Variables
This is used to integrate a function which consists of
form

and

). We cannot integrate directly because of the

To integrate: collect all the

bits on one side and all the

becomes (

e.g.

s mixed up (i.e. of the

on the right hand side.

bits on the other.

The integration symbols are introduced after rearranging.

Integrating factor
Used for functions of the form:

( )

( )

( )
Integrating factor =
Multiply the whole function by the integrating factor and you will end up with the reverse
product rule on the left hand side.

So
H Jackson 2010/2013 / Academic Skills

Substitution (2 variables & homogenous)

Used when the s and s cant be separated and when the differential equation is
homogenous. Homogenous means that the total degree in and , for each term
involved, is the same (e.g.
is degree 2 and
is degree 2).
The method is as follows:
1. Substitute
(where is a function of ),
2. Differentiate with respect to using the product rule,
3. Substitute everything back into the original function, and cancel where possible so that
you have a function with and which can then be integrated by separating the
variables.

e.g.

Using the product rule (and implicit differentiation).

1. Let

(This will be the same every time so you can just

memorise it if you prefer.)

2.

3. Replace any s and

in the original:

Original question:
The s will cancel

Becomes:

Combine the fractions:

Simplify & rearrange:

Now we can separate the variables and solve as normal:

Dont forget the constant.

(with logs, )

1)
(
1)
(
1)

Remember that
(

1)
1

(
H Jackson 2010/2013 / Academic Skills