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Problem: Find
We put u = x2 + 1 and as x = 0 1, u = 1 2 So du = 2x dx But the question does not contain an x dx term so we cannot solve it using any of the normal integration methods. We need to use numerical approaches. When software like Mathcad or graphics calculators perform definite integrals, they use numerical methods. We can use one of two methods:
Trapezoidal rule Simpson's Rule (in the next section: 6. Simpson's Rule)
Let's see this in LiveMath. Note that our approximation is much better than using rectangles.
LIVEMath
So the approximate area under the curve is found by adding the area of the trapezoids. (Our trapezoids are rotated 90 so that their new base is actually the height. So h = x.) Area
[This is less calculation than the form used in the text. You may use either.] To find x for the area from x = a to x = b, we use:
yn = f(b)
Note:
We get a better approximation if we take more trapezoids [up to a limit!]. The more trapezoids we take, we have: x 0. We can write (if the curve is above the x-axis only between x = a and x = b):
Here, a = 0 and b = 1.
y0 = f(a) = f(0) = y1 = f(a + x) = f(0.2) = y2 = f(a + 2x) = f(0.4) = y3 = f(a + 3x) = f(0.6) = y4 = f(a + 4x) = f(0.8) = y5 = f(b) = f(1) =
So the area
=1
So
1.150