SECTION 5.3 THE FUNDAMENTAL THEOREM OF CALCULUS
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THE FUNDAMENTAL THEOREM OF CALCULUS
The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus is appropriately named because it establishes a
connection between the two branches of calculus: differential calculus and integral calcu-
lus. Differential calculus arose from the tangent problem, whereas integral calculus arose
from a seemingly unrelated problem, the area problem. Newton’s mentor at Cambridge,
Isaac Barrow (1630–1677), discovered that these two problems are actually closely
related. In fact, he realized that differentiation and integration are inverse processes. The
Fundamental Theorem of Calculus gives the precise inverse relationship between the
derivative and the integral. It was Newton and Leibniz who exploited this relationship and
used it to develop calculus into a systematic mathematical method. In particular, they saw
that the Fundamental Theorem enabled them to compute areas and integrals very easily
without having to compute them as limits of sums as we did in Sections 5.1 and 5.2.
The first part of the Fundamental Theorem deals with functions defined by an equation
of the form
where is a continuous function on and varies between and . Observe that tbax#a, b$f
t!x" !
y
x
a
f !t" dt
1
5.3
(b) Use the result of Exercise 28 in Section 5.2 to find an expression for .
(c) Find . What do you notice?
(d) If and h is a small positive number, then represents the area
of a region. Describe and sketch the region.
(e) Draw a rectangle that approximates the region in part (d). By comparing the areas of
these two regions, show that
(f) Use part (e) to give an intuitive explanation for the result of part (c).
;
3. (a) Draw the graph of the function in the viewing rectangle
by .
(b) If we define a new function by
then is the area under the graph of from 0 to [until becomes negative, at
which point becomes a difference of areas]. Use part (a) to determine the value of
at which starts to decrease. [Unlike the integral in Problem 2, it is impossible to
evaluate the integral defining to obtain an explicit expression for .]
(c) Use the integration command on your calculator or computer to estimate , ,
, . . . , , . Then use these values to sketch a graph of .
(d) Use your graph of from part (c) to sketch the graph of using the interpretation of
as the slope of a tangent line. How does the graph of compare with the graph
of ?
4. Suppose is a continuous function on the interval and we define a new function
by the equation
Based on your results in Problems 1–3, conjecture an expression for .
t+!x"
t!x" !
y
x
a
f !t" dt
t#a, b$f
f
t+t+!x"
t+t
tt!2"t!1.8"t!0.6"
t!0.4"t!0.2"
t!x"t
t!x"x
t!x"
f !x"xft!x"
t!x" !
y
x
0
cos!t
2
" dt
t
#$1.25, 1.25$
#0, 2$f !x" ! cos!x
2
"
A!x % h" $ A!x"
h
) 1 % x
2
A!x % h" $ A!x"x & $1
A+!x"
A!x"