CHAPTER 19: AREAS AND DEFINITE INTEGRATION

1. Areas
The general problem we want to consider is one of the oldest in mathematics:
To find the area of a planar region bounded by curved sides:

To relate areas of regions like this to functions, we begin with regions of the
following form:

Problem: Find the area of the region bounded by y = f (x), x = a, x = b

and y = 0; i.e., the area under the curve y = f (x) from x = a to x = b
Example 1.1. Find the area under the curve y = 10 from x = a to x = b.
(Here a and b are any two numbers whatsoever.)
Solution: The area is bounded above by the horizontal straight line y = 10,
below by the horizontal straight line y = 0 and at either end by the vertical
straight lines x = a and x = b. Thus the region is a rectangle with height
10 and base the interval [a, b] which has length b a. Thus the area is
base height = 10(b a).
Example 1.2. Find the area under the curve y = x from 0 to b:
1

First Science MATH1200 Calculus

This area is likewise easy to calculate, since the region involved is a right1
1
angled triangle. The answer is (1/2) base height = b b = b2 .
2
2
2
Example 1.3. Find the area under the parabola y = x from x = 0 to
x = 1.

This region is not bounded by straight lines, so it is much more difficult

to determine the exact value of its area. In the days before the calculus,
regions of areas like this could be calculated with great difficulty by
approximating the region by larger and larger numbers of thin rectangles
and then applying a kind of limiting process to get the exact area.
Below, we will see how to use antiderivatives to find his area with almost
no effort.
2. Leibniz Notation for Areas
The notation used in calculus to denote areas under curves is at first sight
bizarre. It goes back to the mathematics of Leibniz in the seventeenth
century and the methods which were used to find areas. Leibniz regarded
the area under y = f (x) from x = a to x = b as a sum of infinitely
many rectangles (one based at each x between a and b) each of which is

First Science MATH1200 Calculus

infinitesimally thin and whose width is denoted dx. Note that the height
of the rectangle based at x is f (x) (since this is the height of the curve
y = f (x) above x). Thus the area of this rectangle is heightbase = f (x)dx.

Thus to Leibnizs way of thinking, the area under curve is equal to the sum
of areas of all these rectangles, one for each x [a, b], which is equal to
the sum from x = a to x = b of f (x) dx. He used a long S to denote
this sum:
Z b
f (x) dx
a

This notation is still used today. It is called the definite integral of f (x)
from a to b, and it is just a symbol or a shorthand for the area under the
curve y = f (x) from x = a to x = b.
In this symbol, a is called the lower limit of integration and b is called the
upper limit of integration.
Note 1: This symbol stands for a number (i.e the area of a certain region).
Note 2: The x occurring here is a dummy variable. The value of this
expression does not depend on x.
Z b
Z b
f (t) dt
or
f ()d
a

denote the same area.

Note 3: The symbol makes sense even if f (x) is sometimes negative, but
areas below the x-axis are subtracted.

height=4cm,

First Science MATH1200 Calculus

Thus the value of

f (x) dx

may be negative.
Example 2.1. For example,
Z 1
x dx = 1/2

so

x dx = 1/2

Another convention, which will prove useful later: If we insert the limits of
integration in the opposite order, it changes the sign of the number:
Z a
Z b
f (x) dx :=
f (x) dx
b

Example 2.2.
Z

x dx =

1
2

3. Areas and Antiderivatives: The Fundamental Theorem of

Calculus
Question: How is
Z

f (x) dx related to

f (x) dx ?

It is not at all obvious (in spite of the similarity of notation) that they
should be related in any way. The first of these is a number representing
the area of a region. The second is a collection of functions, namely the
general anti-derivative of f (x).
In order to understand how these two things are related, we begin by looking
how we can use the notion of areas to construct new functions from old:
Suppose that f (x) is continuous on [a, b]. We make a new function, F (x),
on [a, b], as follows:
Z
x

F (x) :=

f (t) dt

First Science MATH1200 Calculus

That is, we define the new function, F (x), to be the area under y = f (t)
from t = a to t = x. Clearly, the value of this area depends on x; i.e. F (x)
is a function of x.
Example 3.1. Take f (x) = 1, a = 0. Then what is the new function F (x).
Solution:
Z
x

F (x) =

1 dt

is the area under y = 1 from 0 to x. This is a rectangle with height 1 and

base the interval [0, x] which has length x. So F (x) = x in this case.
Note that, in this case, it turns out that F (x) is an anti-derivative of f (x).
Example 3.2. Take f (x) = x, a = 0. What is the new function F (x)?
Z x
Z x
x2
F (x) =
f (t) dt =
t dt =
2
0
0
Thus, in this case also, F (x) turns out to be an anti-derivative of f (x).
In fact, it always turns out that the new function, F (x), is an anti-derivative
of the original function, f (x). This is one of the central facts of calculus
for reasons that will soon be clear and is usually referred to as the
Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.
Theorem 3.1 (Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (Part 1)). If f is a continuous function on [a, b], and if we define
Z x
F (x) =
f (t) dt
a

then F (x) is differentiable on (a, b) and F 0 (x) = f (x) for all x (a, b); i.e,
F (x) is an antiderivative of f (x).
This theorem has several crucial uses. The most immediate use, which we
will exploit later to construct the natural logarithm, is that it gives us a way
of writing down a formula for an antiderivative of any continuous function,
especially in situations where the rules of integration dont apply.
Example 3.3. Write down a formula for an anti-derivative of sin(x3 ).
Solution: If
Z x
F (x) =
sin(t3 ) dt
0
0

then F (x) = sin(x ).

Example 3.4. Write down a function whose derivative is tan(x7 ).
Solution:
Z x
F (x) =
tan(t7 ) dt
0

First Science MATH1200 Calculus

Example 3.5. Write down a formula for an anti-derivative of f (x) = 1/x.

Solution: The function
Z x
1
F (x) =
dt
1 t
does the trick, by the Fundamental Theorem.
The other crucial use of the fundamental theorem is to give us an extremely
efficient method for finding areas of planar regions (our original goal, of
course):
Theorem 3.2 (Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (Part 2)). Suppose that
f (x) is continuous on [a, b] and that G(x) is any antiderivative. Then
Z b
f (x) dx = G(b) G(a) := G(x)|ba
a

Rx
Proof: Let F (x) = a f (t) dt. So F (x) is an antiderivative of f (x) ( by
FTC part 1).
But G(x) is also an anti-derivative. So F (x) = G(x) + C.
What is the value of the constant C?
Clearly
Z a
F (a) =
f (t) dt = 0.
a

So 0 = F (a) = G(a) + C = C = G(a).

Thus F (x) = G(x) G(a) for all x [a, b].
Now let x = b:
Z b
F (b) =
f (t) dt = G(b) G(a)
a

Conclusion: To calculate the area under y = f (x) from x = a to x = b

Rb
(i.e., a f (x)dx):

(1) RFind an antiderivative, G(x) ( i.e., calculate the indefinite integral

f (x)dx).
(2) Substitute in the endpoints and subtract; i.e., evaluate G(b) G(a)
R1
Example 3.6. Find 0 x2 dx.
Solution:
Z
x2 dx = x3 /3 + C
1
Z 1
x3 
2
x dx =
=
3 0
0
1 0
1
= =
3 3
3
Example 3.7. Find the area under one arch of sin x:

First Science MATH1200 Calculus

Solution: We are looking for the area under y = sin x from x = 0 to x = :

Z
sin x dx =
0

cos x|0
= cos() ( cos 0) = (1) (1) = 2
Example 3.8. Find the area under y = x3 from x = 1 to x = 3.
Solution:
3
Z 3
x4 
3
x dx =
4 1
1
34 14
80
=

=
= 20
4
4
4
Example 3.9. Find the area of the region bounded by the curve y = x2 +2x
and the lines y = 0, x = 3 and x = 5. Sketch this region.
Solution: This is the region under the curve y = x2 + 2x from x = 3 to
x = 5.

Z
3

x2 + 2x dx =
5

x3
2
+x  =
3
3
=

125
3

+ 25 (9 + 9)
146
3

48.666

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Example 3.10. Sketch the region bounded above by y = 5 + x2 , below by

y = 1 + 2x2 on the left by the line x = 1 and on the right by the line
x = 1. Find its area.
Solution:

This is a different kind of region than those we have considered so far because
two of its sides are curved. However, clearly we can think of this region as
a difference of two areas each of which is a definite integral:
Z 1
Z 1
2
5 + x dx
1 + 2x2 dx.
1

Now, in general it is true that

Z b
Z b
Z b
f (x) dx
g(x) dx =
(f (x) g(x)) dx.
a

Thus the area of our region is:

Z 1
Z
2
2
(5 + x ) (1 + 2x ) =
1

4 x2 dx

1
x3 
= 4x 
3 1

 

1
1
=
4
4
= 22/3.
3
3
The reasoning in this last example generalises:
The area of the region bounded above by the curve y = f (x), below by the
curve y = g(x) and on the left and right by the lines x = a and x = b is
Z b
f (x) g(x) dx.
a

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Example 3.11. Find the area of the region bounded above by y = x3 +

2x + 1, below by y = cos(x) and by the lines x = 0 and x = 2.
Solution: This is
2
Z 2
4

x
x3 + 2x + 1 cos x dx =
+ x2 + x sin x
4
0
0
= 4 + 4 + 2 sin 2 0
= 10 sin 2.
Example 3.12. Sketch the region in the plane bounded by the two parabolas y = x2 + 1 and y = 2x2 x 1, and find the region of this area.
Solution: In order to sketch the region in question we must first find the
points where these curves intersect; i.e., the points (x, y) in the plane which
simultaneously satisfy both equations. So we solve the equation y = x2 +1 =
2x2 x 1 for x: Subtracting, we get x2 x 2 = 0 and so x = 1 and
x = 2. So the points of intersection are (1, 2) and (2, 5). The region looks
like:

Thus we are looking for the region of the area bounded above by y = x2 + 1,
below by y = 2x2 x 1 and from x = 1 to x = 2. Thus this is
Z 2
Z 2
2
2
(x + 1) (2x x 1) dx =
2 + x x2 dx
1

2
x2 x3 
= 2x +

2
3

 1

8
1 1
=
4+2
2 +
3
2 3
11
=
.
2