AP Calculus

Area
 Area of a Plane Region
• Calculus was built around two problems

– Tangent line

– Area
 Area
• To approximate area,
we use rectangles

• More rectangles
means more accuracy
 Area
• Can over approximate
with an upper sum

• Or under approximate
with a lower sum
 Area
• Variables include

– Number of rectangles used

– Endpoints used
 Area
• Regardless of the number of rectangles or
types of inputs used, the method is
basically the same.

• Multiply width times height and add.

 Upper and Lower Sums
• An upper sum is defined as the area of
circumscribed rectangles

• A lower sum is defined as the area of

inscribed rectangles

• The actual area under a curve is always

between these two sums or equal to one or
both of them.
 Area Approximation
• We wish to approximate the area under a curve f
from a to b.

• We begin by subdividing the interval [a, b] into n

subintervals.

• Each subinterval is of width x.

 Area Approximation
f

a b
 Area Approximation
• We wish to approximate the area under a curve f
from a to b.

• We begin by subdividing the interval [a, b] into n

subintervals of width x 
 b  a
.
n

f  mi   Minimum value of f in the ith subinterval

f  M i   Maximum value of f in the ith subinterval

 Area Approximation
f

f  Mi  

f  mi  

a b
x
 Area Approximation
• So the width of each rectangle is x 
 b  a
n
 f

f  Mi  

f  mi  

a b
x
 Area Approximation
• So the width of each rectangle is x 
 b  a
n

• The height of each rectangle is either f  mi 

or f  M i 
 f

f  Mi  

f  mi  

a b
x
 Area Approximation
• So the width of each rectangle is x 
 b  a
n

• The height of each rectangle is either f  mi 

or f  M i 
• So the upper and lower sums can be defined as
n
 s n    f  mi x
Lower sum

Upper sum
i 1
n
 S  n    f  M i  x
i 1
 Area Approximation
• It is important to note that s  n   ( Area )  S  n 

• Neither approximation will give you the actual

area
• Either approximation can be found to such a
degree that it is accurate enough by taking the
limit as n goes to infinity

• In other words lim s n   lim S  n 

n  n 