Application of Integration

Objective: To use integrals to find

i) area of the region that lie between two functions

ii) volumes of a solid

I. Area Between Curves

Consider the problem of determining the area under a given curve y = f (x) between
two values of x = a and x = b. The region under the curve is dissected into rectangular
strips with the curve passes through the mid-points of each rectangle. This is illustrated
in the picture below:
y

x
a x1 x2 x3 ··· xn−1 b

Let the interval between a and b be divided into n subintervals, from a = x0 through
x1 , x2 , · · · xn−1 , xn = b. The width of a subinterval is equal to the difference between the
adjacent values of x, i.e., ∆xi = xi − xi−1 , where i designates the i-th subinterval. On
each ∆xi a rectangle is formed with the width ∆xi , height yi = f (xi−1 + 21 ∆xi ), and the
area of a single rectangular strip is given by
 ∆xi 
∆Ai = f xi−1 + ∆xi .
2

If the areas of all these rectangles are added together, the sum will be an approxi-
mation of the area under the curve and this is given by
n n
X X  ∆xi 
A= ∆Ai = f xi−1 + ∆xi
i=1 i=1
2

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 This approximation can be improved by increasing the number of subintervals n,
thus decreasing the widths of the ∆xi . In the limit where n approaches infinity, the sum
is equal to the area under the curve:
n Z b
X  ∆xi 
A = lim f xi−1 + ∆xi = f (x) dx .
n→∞
i=1
2 a

The diagram below shows the area under the curve between x = a and x = b:
y

y = f (x)

x
a b

If the curve is entirely below the x-axis:

y
a b
x

y = f (x)

In this case, the integral gives a negative number. We need to take the absolute value
of this to find the area, Z b 
 
A =  f (x) dx .
a

If part of the curve is below the x-axis and part of the curve is above the x-axis,

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 y

y = f (x)

a
x
c b

In this case, we have to sum the individual parts, taking the absolute value for the
section where the curve is below the x-axis,
Z c  Z b
 
A=  f (x) dx + f (x) dx .
a c

If the area of the region is bounded between the curve and the y-axis from y = a and
y = b, as shown in the diagram below:
y

x = f (y)

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The area is given by Z b
A= f (y) dy .
a

Given the regions bounded respectively by the curves y1 = f (x) and y2 = g(x) with
the x-axis and lines x = a, x = b, where f (x) and g(x) are continuous and f (x) ≥ g(x)
for all x in [a, b] as shown in the diagram below:

f (x)

g(x)
A1
A2

a b a b

The area A, as shown in the diagram below,

f (x)

g(x)

a b
which is a region bounded between the curves f (x) and g(x) is
Z b  
A = A1 − A2 = f (x) − g(x) dx
a

4
 y

y = f (x)

x
a b

y = g(x)

The area of the region bounded in the diagram above is

Z bh i
A= f (x) − g(x) dx .
a

Example:
Find the area of the region bounded above by y = x2 + 1, bounded below by y = x and
the sides by x = 0 and x = 1.

Solution:
Sketch the region first
y = x2 + 1

2 y=x

1 A

0
0 1 2

The area is given by

Z 1
 2 
A = (x + 1) − x dx
0
 3 1
x x2 1 1 5
= − +x = − +1=
3 2 0 3 2 6

5
 
Example:
Find the area of the region enclosed by the parabolas

y = x2 and y = 2x − x2

Solution:
First we sketch the graph for the parabolas,

y = x2

1
y = 2x − x2
A

0
0 1 2

The intersection of two curves can be found by solving the two equations simultaneously,

x2 = 2x − x2
2x2 − 2x = 0
2x(x − 1) = 0
∴x = 0 or 1

The points of intersections are (0, 0) and (1, 1). The shaded area is
Z 1
 2
(2x − x2 ) − x2 dx

A =
0
Z 1
= 2 (x − x2 ) dx
0
 2 1
x x3
= 2 −
2 3 0
 
1 1 1
= 2 − = unit2
2 3 3

Example:
Find the area enclosed by the line y = x − 1 and the parabola y 2 = 2x + 6.

Solution:
We sketch the graph for the enclosed area,

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 5

4
y 2 = 2x + 6
3

2 A y = x−1

−5 −4 −3 −2 −1 1 2 3 4 5 6
−1

−2

−3

To find the intersection points, we equal the two equations

(x − 1)2 = 2x + 6
x2 − 2x + 1 = 2x + 6
x2 − 4x − 5 = 0
(x − 5)(x + 1) = 0
∴x = −1 or 5
When x = −1, y = −2. When x = 5, y = 4. The intersection points are (−1, −2) and
(5, 4). Thus, the shaded region is bounded between the straight line and parabola over
the interval y = −2 and y = 4. We rewrite
y = x−1 ⇒ x=y+1
y 2 = 2x + 6 ⇒ x = 21 y 2 − 3
The area is
Z 4 h
i
1 2
A = (y + 1) − 2
y −3 dy
−2
Z 4  
= − 21 y 2 + y + 4 dy
−2
4
1 y3 y2

= − · + + 4y
2 3 2 −2
 
(4)3 (4)2 (−2)3 (−2)2
= − 12 · 3
+ 2
+ 4(4) − − · 1
2 3
+ 2
+ 4(−2) = 18

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 Example:
Find the area of the region between
π
y = sin x , y = cos x , x = 0 , x = 2
.

Solution:
We sketch the graph for the region under consideration:

y
1

y = cos x y = sin x

x
− π2 π π π
4 2

The area of the shaded region is

Z π/4 Z π/2
A = (cos x − sin x) dx + (sin x − cos x) dx
0 π/4
h iπ/4 h iπ/2
= sin x + cos x + − cos x − sin x
0 π/4
 1 1   1 1 
= √ + √ −0−1 + 0+1+ √ + √
2 2 2 2
√
= 2 2−2

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 II. Volume
Consider the area bounded by a curve with equation y = f (x) and the x-axis between
x = a and x = b, as shown below:
y = f (x)

a b

When the shaded region is rotated a full circle about the x-axis, a volume is created
as shown in the diagram below:
y = f (x)

a x b

∆x

To find this volume, we take a slice (the red disk shown above). The disk has the
thickness δx and radius y. The element volume of the disk is given by
∆V = πy 2 ∆x
As we sum all the elementary disks from x = a to x = b,
b b
X X
2
∆V = π f (x) ∆x ,
x=a x=a

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then the volume of the solid can be found by letting the thickness of the disks sufficiently
thin such that ∆x → 0 and thus
b Z b
X
2
2
V = lim π f (x) ∆x = π f (x) dx .
∆x→0 a
x=a

Example:
Find the volume
√ of the solid obtained by rotating about the x-axis, the region under the
curve y = x from 0 to 1.

Solution:

√
y= x
y 1
√
y= x
1

0 x
1

0 x
0 1

−1

The volume of the solid is given by

Z 1
V = πy 2 dx
0
Z 1 √
2
= π x dx
Z0 1
= π x dx
0
 2 1
x π
= π = unit3
2 0 2

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 Example:
Given the region R is enclosed by the curves y = x2 and y = x. Find the volume of the
solid created by rotating R about the x-axis.

Solution:

V
y y = x2 1
y=x

0 x
1

0 x
0 1

−1
The volume of the solid is the volume formed by rotating y = x about x-axis from
x = 0 to x = 1 minus the volume formed by rotating y = x2 about x-axis from x = 0 to
x = 1,
Z 1
π(x)2 − π(x2 )2 dx
 
V =
0
 3 1
x x5 2π
= π − =
3 5 0 15

Exercise:

1.) Find the volume of the solid bounded by rotating the curves y = x3 , y = 8 and
x = 0 about the y-axis.
2.) Find the volume of the solid bounded by rotating the curves x = y − y 2 and x = 0
about the y-axis.
3.) Find the volume of the solid bounded by rotating the curves
1
y= ,y = 0,x = 1,x = 3
x2
about y = −1.

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 III. Arc Length
Consider a real function y = f (x) such that f (x) and f ′ (x) are continuous on the
interval [a, b]. The length of the curve y = f (x) can be approximated by connecting a
finite number of points on the curve using line segments as shown in the diagram below:

∆s b
y = f (x)
b

∆y b
b
b b
b
∆x

a b

The length of each line segment can be calculated straightforwardly by using Pythagorean
theorem, i.e.,
p
∆s = (∆x)2 + (∆y)2
r  ∆y 2
= 1+ ∆x
∆x
The length of the curve will then be approximately given by a series of straight lines
connecting the points
X n
L≈ ∆si
i=1

and the exact length can be obtained by increasing the number of points
n
X
L = lim ∆si
n→∞
i=1
Z b
= ds
a
Z br  dy 2
= 1+ dx
a dx

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 Example:
Find the arc length of y = ln(sec x) between 0 ≤ x ≤ π4 .

Solution:
We have
dy sec x tan x
= = tan x
dx sec x
The arc length is
r
Z π/4  dy 2
L = 1+ dx
0 dx
Z π/4 p
= 1 + tan2 x dx
0
Z π/4 √
= sec2 x dx
0
Z π/4
= sec x dx
0

To solve this integral we need to multiply both the numerator and denominator with
sec x + tan x:
Z π/4
sec x + tan x
L = sec x × dx
0 sec x + tan x
Z π/4
sec2 x + sec x tan x
= dx
0 sec x + tan x
2
Now, we let u = sec x + tan x,
√ then du = (sec x tan x + sec x) dx. When x = 0, u = 1,
and also when x = π/4, u = 2 + 1. Therefore,
√ √
Z 2+1
du h i 2+1 √ 
L= = ln |u| = ln 2+1
1 u 1


Exercise:

1) Find the arc length of the curve given by the function y = 2(x + 1)3/2 from x = 0 to
x = 4.

2) Find the circumference of a circle with radius r.

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