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Application of Integral - Area

1) The document discusses calculating the area between two curves, f(x) and g(x), over an interval [a,b] by approximating the region as rectangles and taking the limit of the Riemann sums. 2) It defines the area A as the definite integral of f(x) - g(x) from a to b. 3) Examples are provided to demonstrate calculating areas between curves using this integral definition and splitting the region into pieces if one curve is above the other over different intervals.

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16 views

Application of Integral - Area

1) The document discusses calculating the area between two curves, f(x) and g(x), over an interval [a,b] by approximating the region as rectangles and taking the limit of the Riemann sums. 2) It defines the area A as the definite integral of f(x) - g(x) from a to b. 3) Examples are provided to demonstrate calculating areas between curves using this integral definition and splitting the region into pieces if one curve is above the other over different intervals.

Uploaded by

ot85826
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Areas Between Curves

Consider the region S that lies between two curves


y = f (x) and y = g(x) and between the vertical lines x = a
and x = b, where f and g are continuous functions and
f (x)  g(x) for all x in [a, b]. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1

S = {(x, y) | a  x  b, g(x)  y  ƒ(x)} 1


Areas Between Curves
We divide S into n strips of equal width and then we
approximate the i th strip by a rectangle with base x and
height f (xi) – g(xi). (See Figure 2. If we like, we could take
all of the sample points to be right endpoints, in which
case xi = xi.)

Figure 2

2
Areas Between Curves
The Riemann sum

is therefore an approximation to what we intuitively think of


as the area of S.

This approximation appears to become better and better as


n → . Therefore we define the area A of the region S as
the limiting value of the sum of the areas of these
approximating rectangles.
3
Areas Between Curves

We recognize the limit in as the definite integral of f – g.


Therefore we have the following formula for area.

Notice that in the special case where g(x) = 0, S is the


region under the graph of f and our general definition of
area reduces. 4
Areas Between Curves
In the case where both f and g are positive, you can see
from Figure 3 why is true:
A = [area under y = f (x)] – [area under y = g(x)]

Figure 3

5
Example 1
Find the area of the region bounded above by y = e x,
bounded below by y = x, and bounded on the sides by
x = 0 and x = 1.

Solution:
The region is shown in Figure 4. The upper boundary curve
is y = e x and the lower boundary curve is y = x.

Figure 4 6
Example 1 – Solution cont’d

So we use the area formula with f (x) = e x, g(x) = x,


a = 0, and b = 1:

7
Areas Between Curves
In Figure 4 we drew a typical approximating rectangle with
width x as a reminder of the procedure by which the area
is defined in .

In general, when we set up an integral for an area, it’s


helpful to sketch the region to identify the top curve yT, the
bottom curve yB, and a typical approximating rectangle as
in Figure 5.

Figure 4 Figure 5 8
Areas Between Curves
Then the area of a typical rectangle is (yT – yB) x and the
equation

summarizes the procedure of adding (in a limiting sense)


the areas of all the typical rectangles.

Notice that in Figure 5 the left-hand boundary reduces to a


point, whereas in Figure 3 the right-hand boundary reduces
to a point.

Figure 3
9
Areas Between Curves
If we are asked to find the area
between the curves y = f (x) and
y = g (x) where f (x)  g (x) for
some values x of but g (x)  f (x)
for other values of x, then we split Figure 9

the given region S into several regions S1, S2 , . . . with


areas A1, A2 , . . . as shown in Figure 9. We then define the
area of the region S to be the sum of the areas of the
smaller regions S1, S2 , . . . that is A = A1 + A2 + . . . Since
f (x) – g (x) when f (x)  g (x)
| f (x) – g (x) | =
g (x) – f (x) when g (x)  f (x)
10
Areas Between Curves
we have the following expression for A.

When evaluating the integral in , however, we must still


split it into integrals corresponding to A1, A2,……

11
Example 5
Find the area of the region bounded by the curves y = sin x,
y = cos x, x = 0, and x =  /2

Solution:
The points of intersection occur when sin x = cos x, that is,
when x =  /4 (since 0  x   /2). The region is sketched in
Figure 10. Observe that cos x  sin x when 0  x   /4 but
sin x  cos x when  /4  x   /2.

Figure 10 12
Example 5 – Solution cont’d

Therefore the required area is

13
Example 5 – Solution cont’d

In this particular example we could have saved some work


by noticing that the region is symmetric about x =  /4 and
so

14
Areas Between Curves
Some regions are best treated by regarding x as a function
of y. If a region is bounded by curves with equations
x = f (y), x = g (y), y = c, and y = d, where f and g are
continuous and f (y)  g (y) for c  y  d (see Figure 11), then
its area is

Figure 11 15
Areas Between Curves
If we write xR for the right boundary and xL for the left
boundary, then, as Figure 12 illustrates, we have

Figure 12 16

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