Elementary Integration

Integration as an antiderivative
You can call integration as the reverse process of differentiation and so now youre working backwards. When we integrate an expression, we use the symbol which is something like a curly s. So lets say we evaluate this expression x 2 dx . Note the dx over there, just remember to put it behind every integral. So, evaluating

x dx ,
2

Step 1: Add one to the power x 2 +1 = x3 Step 2: Multiply it by the reciprocal of its new power to get,
1 3 x . 3

If you try differentiating it, you notice that you get back the original expression x 2 which we tried to integrate. But the integration is not yet complete. Remember in differentiation, we actually ignore any constants as we differentiate? So now we have to take that into concern because y = x 2 + 3 and y = x 2 + 14 have the same derivative but they are very different functions ! So, in this case, we need to consider the constant when we integrate and it is denoted by c. 1 So, x 2 dx = x3 + c. And c is usually called the constant of integration. 3

Integrating powers of a function

When we integrate powers of a function say, ( x 2 + 2) 4 dx , its not dj vu if youre thinking about the chain rule, because it is somewhat similar. Ok, here goes, lets evaluate ( x 2 + 2) 4 dx .
1 2 ( x + 2)5 . 5 Step 2 : Multiply the result you got in step 1 by the reciprocal of the differential of the inside.

Step 1 : Integrate the outside to get,

Ok, the differential of the inside would be 2x ,and its reciprocal, by the result in step one, you would get
1 ( x 2 + 2)5 . 10 x

1 . So multiplying this 2x

The definite integral

Now, lets see what happens when we integrate a function over a certain range. If say, we
5

want to evaluate

x dx over a range 5 and 2. We indicate it as, x dx .Now when we

2 2 2

evaluate such integrals, the integration constant disappears and we do not include it in the equation (you can look for its proof as to why the integration constant disappears elsewhere on the net, I dont show proofs). And since the integration constant disappears, we call it the definite integral. So, evaluating such integrals are very simple. As you know, the integral of x 2 is And since we are integrating with the range 5 and 2, we substitute 5 into substitution of 3 into
1 3 x . So, we get, 3 1 3 x . 3

1 3 x minus the 3

1 3 1 3 98 5 3 = . The answer of definite integrals in this case is always numbers. 3 3 3

a

So, more generally, f(x).

f ( x)dx = F (a) F (b) , where capital F is the integrated function of

b

Important rules regarding definite integrals

Here is an important rule for definite integrals which you would need to use later.

f ( x)dx + f ( x)dx = f ( x)dx

b b

af ( x)dx = a f ( x)dx