Rachel Quesnelle 3/17/14 AP Calculus Mrs.

Tallman Riemann Sums A lot of calculus is finding the area under the curve. Even though an integral is a method that gives an exact number for the area under the curve, but there are more general approximations for the area under the curve. Three of these approximations are Riemann Sums, The Trapezoid Rule, and Simpsons Rule. This essay will discuss these topics as well as other parts of finding the area under the curve. Part 1: Approximation Methods The first of these methods of approximating the area under a curve is known as Riemann Sums. Riemann Sums are named after the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann. The definition of Riemann Sums is the area under the curve as a product of f(x) and x, even if f(x) is not constant. The idea that exists behind Riemann Sums is that rectangles exist underneath a curve, and by finding the total area of these rectangles, one can estimate the area that exists under the curve. Riemann Sums can be done with any number of rectangles under the curve in question. Figure 1 shows an example of Riemann Sums.

Figure 1. Reimann Sums Rectangles In Figure 1, each rectangle has a width of .5 and there are 10 total rectangles. The point of the rectangle that touches the function is the midpoint of each rectangle. In this case, each rectangle has a width of .5 and there are 10 total rectangles. This is known as the Midpoint Riemann Sum. The five types of Riemann Sums are left, right, midpoint, upper, and lower. Part 2 discusses these types of Riemann Sums. Because of the nature of Riemann Sums, they can be used without knowing the function in question. Figure 2 below gives the general equation for a Riemann Sum.

Figure 2. Riemann Sums Equation In Figure 2, w represents the width of each of the rectangles and h is the height for each of the rectangles in the interval.

If you look at Figure 1 for Riemann Sums, you may notice that rectangles may not be the best shape to fit under curves. A better shape would be trapezoids, which would better fit in the curve. The method that takes this into account is the Trapezoid Rule. Figure 3 shows how trapezoids fit under a curve.

Figure 3. Trapezoid Rule Figure 3 shows how trapezoids can be used on a curve. The Trapezoid Rule can be used with as many number of trapezoids in the interval as desired. Much like Riemann Sums, the Trapezoid Rule can be used without knowing the equation of the function. All the rectangles have equal widths, and the two heights of the trapezoid are when the graph intersects the lines at the end of the intervals. Two types of points are labeled on the graph in Figure 3, purple points, and orange points. The purple points are endpoints, and only touch one trapezoid, while the orange points touch two. This is shown in the equation in Figure 4.

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Figure 4. Trapezoid Rule In Figure 4, w is the width of the trapezoid. ( ), ( ), etc. are the heights of the trapezoids. As you may have noticed, ( ) and ( ) are not multiplied by 2, while

the rest are. These points would be the purple points on the graph in Figure 3, while the values multiplied by 2 would be the orange points. The third approximation method is Simpsons Rule. The shape used by Simpsons Rule to evaluate the area under a curve is parabolas. Figure 5 shows an example of Simpsons Rule.

Figure 5. Simpsons Rule Simpsons Rule does not need the function to be evaluated. The parabolas are all equal width, and the two ends of the parabola are when the graph intersects the lines at the end of the intervals. Figure 6 shows the equation for Simpsons Rule.

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Figure 6. Simpsons Rule Equation In Figure 6, w is the width of the trapezoid. ( ), ( ), etc. are the heights of the parabolas. After the endpoints of the interval, the coefficient of values alternate between 4 and 2, ending with 4 before the endpoint. Riemann Sums, The Trapezoid Rule, and Simpsons Rule all have their similarities and differences. All three of these methods are used when the function of a curve is unknown, so an estimate is needed. They differ, though, because they all use different shapes to get an estimate. Riemann Sums use rectangles, The Trapezoid Rule uses trapezoids, and Simpsons Rule uses parabolas. Since the area under a curve is being found, Simpsons Rule will be the most accurate approximation to the true are under the curve, because the parabolas can best follow the curve. The Trapezoid Rule would be the next most accurate, and a Riemann Sum would be the least accurate. Part 2 and Part 3: Riemann Sums Visual and F(x) Form As mentioned before, there are five different kinds of Riemann Sums. They are Left Riemann Sum, Right Riemann Sum, Midpoint Riemann Sum, Upper Riemann Sum, and Lower Riemann Sum. The difference between all of these is what is used for the height of the rectangle. This is easiest to visualize when looking at a graph. Figure 7 shows the Left Riemann Sum for the graph f(x)=(x-3)4+2(x-3)3-4(x-3)+5.

Figure 7. Left Riemann Sum Figure 7 shows a basic Riemann Sum with only 2 intervals, or rectangles, from x=1 to x=5. As you can tell, the height of the rectangle is the point where the left side of the rectangle touches the graph. Hence, it is a Left Riemann Sum. The height of the orange rectangle is the y-value at x=1, or 13. The height of the teal rectangle is the yvalue at x=3, or 5.

Figure 8. Right Riemann Sum Figure 8 shows a basic Riemann Sum with only 2 intervals, or rectangles, from x=1 to x=5. The height of the rectangle is the point where the right side of the rectangle touches the graph. Hence, it is a Right Riemann Sum. The height of the orange rectangle is the y-value at x=3, or 5. The height of the teal rectangle is the y-value at x=5, or 28.9.

Figure 9. Midpoint Riemann Sum Figure 9 shows a basic Riemann Sum with only 2 intervals, or rectangles, from x=1 to x=5. The height of the rectangle it the point where the midpoint of the rectangle touches the graph. This makes it a Midpoint Riemann Sum. The height of the orange rectangle is the y-value at x=2, or 8. The height of the teal rectangle is the y-value at x=4, or 4.

Figure 10. Upper Riemann Sum Figure 10 shows a basic Riemann Sum with only 2 intervals, or rectangles, from x=1 to x=5. The height of the rectangle is the highest point on the graph in the reason. This is an Upper Riemann Sum. The height of the orange rectangle is the y-value at x=1, which is the highest point, or 13. The height of the teal rectangle is the y-value at x=3, which is the highest point, or 28.9.

Figure 11. Lower Riemann Sum Figure 11 shows a basic Riemann Sum with only 2 intervals, or rectangles, from x=1 to x=5. The height of the rectangle is the lowest point on the graph in the reason. This is an Lower Riemann Sum. The height of the orange rectangle is the y-value at x=3, which is the lowest point, or 5. The height of the teal rectangle is the y-value at x=3.68, which is the lowest point, or 3.12. All of the 5 Riemann Sums in Part 2 have only two rectangles. So, the f(x) form for all of these are f1(width)(height) + f2(width)(height). So, for the Left Riemann Sum in Figure 7, the f(x) form is f(2)(13)+f(2)(5). The sum of these rectangles is 36 units2. For the Right Riemann Sum in Figure 8, the f(x) form is f(2)(5)+f(2)(28.9). The sum of these rectangles is 67.8 units2. For the Midpoint Riemann Sum in Figure 9, the f(x) form is f(2)(8)+f(2)(4). The sum of these rectangles is 24 units2. For the Upper Riemann Sum in Figure 10, the f(x) form is f(2)(13)+f(2)(28.9). The sum of these rectangles is 83.8 units2. For the Lower Riemann Sum in Figure 11, the f(x) form is f(2)(5)+f(2)(3.12). The

sum of these rectangles is 16.24 units2. As you can tell, these numbers are all over the place for the same graph. The actual area is 32.8 units2. So, in this case, the Left Riemann Sum is the closest to the actual value, but this isnt always the case.

Part 4: Trapezoid Rule Demonstration Another method that can be used for finding the area under the graph f(x)=(x3)4+2(x-3)3-4(x-3)+5 is the trapezoid rule. Figure 12 shows a visual representation of this trapezoid rule.

Figure 12. Trapezoid Rule for f(x)=(x-3)4+2(x-3)3-4(x-3)+5 Figure 12 is the trapezoid rule using 4 trapezoids. In this case, the pink, blue, and purple trapezoids overestimate the area, while the green one underestimates. All of these trapezoids have the same width, 1. The two heights of the pink trapezoid are 13 and 8. The two heights of the green trapezoid are 8 and 5. The two heights of the blue

trapezoid are 5 and 4. The two heights of the purple trapezoid are 4 and 28.9. Figure 4 shows the equation for a trapezoid rule. Figure 13 is the equation for the area under this curve using the trapezoid rule.

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Figure 13. Using the Trapezoid Rule Based on the trapezoid rule, the area under this curve is 37.95 units2. This is closer than any of the Riemann Sums in Part 3, but it is not quite 32.8 units2. Part 5: Mean Value Theorem (for Integrals) Even though it may not seem like it, the Mean value Theorem is related to this topic. In this case, its the Mean Value Theorem for Integrals. The Mean Value Theorem for Integral states that if the function f is continuous on [a,b], then there exists a number c in [a,b] such that ( ) ( ) . Simply, this means that there is a rectangle

with height c has the same area as the area under the curve for the same interval. Figure 14 shows an example for this.

Figure 14. Mean Value Theorem for Integrals In Figure 14, the graph of f(x)=cos(x)+2 is shown. The area under this curve from a to b, or 1 to 5, would be the same as the area of the green rectangle at height c. Figure 15 shows the graph used for parts 2 through 4.

Figure 15. Graph of f(x)=(x-3)4+2(x-3)3-4(x-3)+5

The Mean Value Theorem would apply here to find the height of the rectangle that would give the same area as the area under the curve. Figure 16 shows the equation for finding f(c).

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Figure 16. Mean Value Theorem Figure 17 shows how to use this equation for this problem.

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Figure 17. Using the Mean Value Theorem for Integrals In this case, f(c)= 8.2. This means at the y-value 8.2, there is a rectangle with the same area as the area under the curve with the same integral/ width, in this case, 4. This proves true because the definite integral for this graph is 32.8 units2, and a rectangle with the dimensions 8.2 x 4 has an area of 32.8 units2. This could also be done with two integrals by changing a and b to 1 and 3, and then 3 and 5. The f(c) for both is 8.2 and then adding the two areas, both having a width of 2, together, you get 32.8 units 2 again. All of these methods are used as approximates of the area under the curve. They can be used when youre given various information, but not everything you need to just do a definite integral. This means that they are good tools to keep in your back pocket for a rainy day.

Part 6: Using this Information (Problem Solving) The volume of a spherical hot air balloon expands as the air inside the balloon is heated. The radius of the balloon, in feet, is modeled by a twice-differentiable function r of time t, where t is measured in minutes. For 0<t<12, the graph is concave down. The table below gives selected values of the rate of change, r(t), of the radius of the balloon over the time interval 0t12. The radius of the balloon is 32 feet when t=7. (The volume of a sphere of radius r is given by V = 4/3 r3.) t (seconds) r(t) (ft/sec) 0 5.7 1 4.0 4 2.0 7 1.4 11 0.5 12 0.4

a.) Estimate the radius of the balloon when t=7.2 using the tangent line approximation at t=7. Is your estimate greater than or less than the true value? Give a reason for your answer. ( ) ( ) ( ( ) ( ) )

b.) Find the rate of change of the volume of the balloon with respect to time when t=7. Indicate the units of measure.

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c.) Use a right Riemann sum with 5 subintervals indicated by the data in the table to approximate ( ) . Using correct units, explain the meaning of ( ) in terms

of the radius of the balloon. ( ) ( )( ) ( )( ) ( ) ( )( ) ( )( ) ( )( )

This value for this value f(x) explains the total change in the radius over the time from 0 seconds until 12 seconds. d.) Is your approximation in part c greater than or less than ( ) ? Give a reason.

Since the right side of each integral is less than that of the left side, this Riemann sum underestimates the true definite integral of ( ) .

Works Cited Dawkins, Paul. "Approximating Definite Integrals." Pauls Online Notes : Calculus II Approximating Definite Integrals. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2014. <http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcII/ApproximatingDefIntegrals.aspx>. Mahaffy, Joseph M. "Rieman Summs." Rieman Summs. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2014. <http://www.rohan.sdsu.edu/~jmahaffy/courses/f00/math122/lectures/riemann_su ms/riemanns.html>. "The Riemann Sum Formula For the Definite Integral." - For Dummies. For Dummis, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2014. <http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-riemannsum-formula-for-the-definite-integral.html>.