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Defining the Definite Integral

Wyatt Kieffner
College of Mathematics and Natural Sciences,
University of Massachusetts,
Amherst,
MA,
01003
wkieffner@umass.edu

October 11, 2017


Contents

1 The Definite Integral 2


1.1 Lefthand Riemann Sum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Righthand Riemann Sum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Definition of Definite Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

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Chapter 1

The Definite Integral

The definite integral has many important applications in mathematics, and


here we define the definite integral as the area under a curve.

1.1 Lefthand Riemann Sum


First, we will start with an approximation for the area under a curve using
rectangles, called a Riemann Sum. Riemann sums can be drafted several
different ways, and we will start with the Lefthand Riemann Sum. This
means we will be evaluated points on the curve as the (upper) lefthand corner
of a rectangle.
As shown in Figure 1.1, we can
divide the area of a curve into a
distinct interval [a,b] and choose n
number of rectangles to divide the
area into. The upper left endpoint
of each rectangle is chosen to lie on
the graph so that the height of the
rectangle is equal to f (x), and the
width of each triangle is equal to ba
n
.
We can use the additive area of these
rectangles to approximate the area
under a curve as follows.
n
baX Figure 1.1: Lefthand Riemann Sum
f (xi1 ) (1.1)
n i=1 Created by Wyatt Kieffner

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Obviously, for a curve with a positive slope, this is an underestimation
of the true area under the curve, as we are missing the area highlighted in
yellow in Figure 1.1 between each rectangle and the curve. This summation
would overestimate a curve with a negative slope and be perfectly accurate
for an entirely flat curve. Lets look at a Riemann sum where we set the
upper right endpoints of the rectangles to lie on the curve rather than the
left.

1.2 Righthand Riemann Sum


We construct the righthand Riemann sum similarly to the left. Rather than
the upper left corners of each rectangle intersecting the line, the upper right
corner of each rectangle will intersect, giving us a different approximation,
and the expression changes slightly to compensate.
n
baX
f (xi ) (1.2)
n i=1
Instead of evaluating f (x) at the
left edge of each rectangle, we now
evaluate f (x) along the right edge.
Unlike the lefthand Riemann sum,
when used to approximate the area
under a curve with a positive slope,
the righthand sum overestimates the
area. You can see this in the high-
lighted yellow portion of Figure 1.2.
Each rectangle has a small area
which is evaluated as part of the area
despite being above the curve. How
do we remedy this? Lets try in-
creasing the number of rectangles. Figure 1.2: Righthand Riemann Sum
Created by Wyatt Kieffner

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Figure 1.3: Increasing the number of rectangles
Created by Wyatt Kieffner

Notice now that the area of each


rectangle that lies above the curve is much smaller. Recognizing this, we can
assume that as we increase the number of rectangles, the closer the overall
approximation will be to the actual area underneath the curve y = f (x). We
will use this knowledge in our definition of the definite integral.

1.3 Definition of Definite Integral


Since the number of rectangles has an obvious bearing on the approximate
area underneath a curve, we can assume that if we were to accumulate an
infinite amount of rectangles, the extra (or missing) area in our calculations
would grow closer to a value of zero. We can portray this as a limit.
n
baX
lim f (xi1 )
n n i=1

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Notice that we only included the expression for a lefthand sum. This is
because, as we would want, the values of the lefthand sum and righthand
sum approach the same figure (the actual area under the curve) when n
approaches infinity. We then define the definite integral as follows.
n
Z b
baX
f (x)dx = lim f (xi1 ) (1.3)
a n n i=1

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