2.5.

AVERAGE VALUE AND THE MEAN VALUE THEOREM FOR INTEGRALS1

2.5. Average value and the Mean Value Theo-

rem for integrals
The average value of a function on an interval will be defined in terms of
an integral, just as the average or mean of a list a1 , . . . , an of n numbers is
defined in terms of a sum as n
1X
ai .
n i=1
If a grain dealer buys wheat from n farmers, buying bi bushels from the ith
farmer at the price of pi dollars per bushel, the average price is determined not
by taking the simple average of the pi ’s, but rather by the “weighted average” :
Pn
p i bi total dollars
paverage = Pi=1
n = . (2.1)
i=1 bi total bushels
If a cyclist changes speed intermittently, traveling at vi , miles per hour
from t0 to t1 , v2 miles per hour from t1 to t2 , and so on up to time tn , then
the average speed for the trip is
Pn
vi (ti − ti−1 ) total miles
vaverage = Pi=1
n = . (2.2)
i=1 (ti − ti−1 ) total hours

If, in either of the last two examples, the bi ’s of (ti − ti−1 )’s are all equal,
then the average value is simply the usual average of the pi ’s or the vi ’s.
Ejemplo 2.5.1 Usando GeoGebra es posible graficar funciones escalonadas utili-
zando el comando if. La figura 2.1 se realizó utilizando el comando

f(x) = if(0<x<2,1,x^2)

que debe entenderse como: si x está entre el 0 y el 2, asígnales el valor de 1;

en cualquier otro lugar: asígnale el valor de x2 . La interface de GeoGebra ya
lo interpreta así y lo muestra como en la figura.
También es posible usar if anidados. El comando

g(x) = if(-5<x<1,2, if(1<x<8,6))

produce la gráfica mostrada en Fig. 2.2.

Ejercicio 2.5.2 En GeoGebra reproduzca la gráfica de la función mayor entero en el
intervalo [−5, 5], la función de truncamiento en el intervalo [−5, 3], la función
2

Figura 2.1: Función escalonada

Figura 2.2: Función escalonada

 2.5. AVERAGE VALUE AND THE MEAN VALUE THEOREM FOR INTEGRALS3

redondeo en [5, 10] y la función escalón de Heaviside.

If f is a step function on [a, b] and we have a partition {x0 , x1 , . . . , xn }

with f (x) = ki on (xi−1 , xi ), then the average value of f on the interval [a, b]
is defined to be
Pn
ki ∆xi
f (t)[a,b] = Pi=1
n , (2.3)
i=1 ∆xi

in other words, each interval is weighted by its length.

How can we define the average value of a function which is not a step
function? For instance, it is common to talk of the average temperature at
a place on earth, although the temperature is not a step function. We may
rewrite (2.3) as

Rb
a
f (x)dx
f (x)[a,b] = (2.4)
b−a

and this leads us to adopt formula (2.4) as the definition of the average value
for any integrable function f , not just a step function.

Average value of an integrable function

If the function f has an integral on [a, b], then the average value f (x)[a,b]
of f on [a, b] is defined by the formula
Z b
1
f (x)[a,b] = f (x)dx. (2.5)
b−a a

Ejercicio 2.5.3 Find the average value of f (x) = x2 on [0, 2]

Ejemplo 2.5.4 Show that if v = f (t) is the velocity of a moving object, then the
definition of v [ a, b] agrees with the usual notion of average velocity
 4

Solución.
By the definition, Z b
1
v [ a, b] = vdt;
b−a a
Rb
but a
vdt is the distance traveled between t = a and t = b, so

distance traveled
v [ a, b] = ,
time of travel
which is the usual definition of average velocity

Ejemplo 2.5.5 Find x2 sin x3 [0,π] .

Solución.

Z π
1
x2 sin x3 [0,π] = x2 sin x3 dx
π 0
Z π3
1 du
= sin u substituting u = x3
π 0 3
π 3
1 
= [− cos u] 

3π 
0
1 
1 − cos π 3 ≈ 0.0088

=
3π

√
Ejercicio 2.5.6 Show that the average value of 1 − x2 on [−1, 1] is π/4.
We may rewrite the definition of the average value in the form
Z b
f (x)dx = f (x)[a,b] (a, b) (2.6)
a

and the right-hand side can be interpreted as the integral of a constant fun-
2.5. AVERAGE VALUE AND THE MEAN VALUE THEOREM FOR INTEGRALS5

Figura 2.3: The average value is defined so that the area of the rectangle
equals the area under the graph. The dots on the x axis indicate places
where the average value is attained.

ction: Z b Z b
f (x)dx = f (x)[a,b] dx. (2.7)
a a

Geometrically, the average value is the height of the rectangle with base
[a, b] which has the same area as the region under the graph of f (see Fig.
2.3. Physically, if the graph of f is a picture of the surface of wavy water
in a narrow channel, then the average value of f is the height of the water
when it settles.
An important property of average values is given in the following state-
ment:

Theorem 2.5.1. If m ≤ f (x) ≤ M for all x in [a, b], then m ≤ f (x)[a,b] ≤ M

Este teorema es muy importante ya que dice que si f es una función

acotada; es decir, su gráfica “vive” entre los números m y M (ver Fig.
2.4), entonces su valor promedio se encuentra entre, justamente, m y
M.
6

Figura 2.4: Una función es acotada si su gráfica “vive” entre dos números
fijos; en este caso la gráfica de f vive entre m y M .

Demostración. Indeed, integrating inequality m ≤ f (x) ≤ M on [a, b]:

Z b Z b Z b
mdx ≤ f (x)dx ≤ M dx
a a a

which is equivalent to

Z b
m(b − a) ≤ f (x)dx ≤ M (b − a) (2.8)
a

dividing by (b − a) gives the desired result.

By the extreme value theorem f (x) attains a minimum value m and a

maximum value M on [a, b]. Then m ≤ f (x) ≤ M for x in [a, b], so f (x)[a,b]
lies between m and M , by the preceding theorem. By the first version of the
intermediate value theorem, applied to the interval between the points where
f (x) = m and f (x) = M , we conclude that there is a x0 in this interval (and
thus in [a, b]), such that f (x0 ) = f (x)[a,b] .
In other words, we have proved that the average value of a continuous
function on an interval is always attained somewhere on the interval. This
result is known as the mean value theorem for integrals.
2.5. AVERAGE VALUE AND THE MEAN VALUE THEOREM FOR INTEGRALS7

Mean value theorem for integrals

Let f be continuous on [a, b]. Then there is a point x0 in (a, b) such
that Z b
1
f (x0 ) = f (x)dx. (2.9)
b−a a

Notice that in Fig. 2.4, the mean value is attained at three different points;
this means that the point x0 in (2.9) is not unique.
8
Bibliografía

9
Índice alfabético

Average, 1
of a function, 3
of an integrable function, 3
Velocity, 4
Weighted, 1

Mean Value Theorem for integrals, 6

10