Public Policy Boot Camp Math Lesson 4 Notes

Integral Calculus
Integration is the inverse operation of differentiation. Thus, for the exact same reason that
differentiation is so important for economics, integration is essential as well. When you take the
derivative of a function that represents some total quantity—total production expenditures, for
example—you get the marginal version of that quantity—the cost of producing one more item, in
this case. When you take the integral of a marginal quantity—say, willingness to pay—you get
the corresponding total quantity—consumer surplus. Integration, it turns out, is geometrically
equivalent to finding the area under a function. Because of this, it will not show up as often in
your classes, since many of the problems you will have to solve require only basic geometric
formulas for area (which we will also review) rather than formal calculus. Still, integration is an
important tool to have in your toolkit, so we will take some time to review it nonetheless.

The Theory of Integration: Indefinite and Definite Integrals

Let f be a function of a single variable on the domain [ a, b] . The definite integral of f from a to
b
b is denoted ∫ f ( x ) dx , and defined to be the area between the horizontal axis and the graph of f
a
between a and b (if the graph is below the horizontal axis, this “area” is negative). We read the
expression as “the integral from a to b of f ( x ) , dx.” The integral is the infinitesimal sum of
rectangles of height f ( x ) and width dx, between a and b. In other words, taking an integral is
simply calculating areas of rectangles and then adding them up—except that the width of the
rectangles is infinitesimally small so that the calculation of the area under the function is precise.

As it turns out, the integral of a function is also the antiderivative—that is, if you took the
derivative of a function and then took the indefinite integral of that result, you would end up with
the original function again. Whereas the definite integral was just a number (representing area),
the indefinite integral is a function. The difference of the values of this function evaluated at two
points is equivalent to the definite integral with those two points as the endpoints of its domain.

The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus describes this relationship more formally. Let f be a
x
function defined over the interval [ a, b] . Then, for the function F ( x ) = ∫ f ( t ) dt , it is true that
a
b
F ' ( x ) = f ( x ) . We call F ( x ) the antiderivative of f ( x ) . Moreover, ∫ f ( x ) dx = F ( b ) − F ( a ) .
a

The theorem intimately relates, via integration, the antiderivative F ( x ) of a function f(x) to the
function itself, stating F ' ( x ) = f ( x ) .

The symbol ∫ f ( z ) dz is used to represent the indefinite integral of f and denotes the set of
functions F for which the derivative of F is equal to f. There is a set of answers to this problem,
as opposed to a unique answer, because if F ' ( z ) = f ( z ) for all z then for any function H with
H ( z ) = F ( z ) + c , where c is a constant, we also have H ' ( z ) = f ( z ) for all z. Thus, if we desire

Page | 1
Public Policy Boot Camp Math Lesson 4 Notes

to find a unique function, we need some additional means of specifying the constant c. This
additional means is most commonly the identification of one particular point on the function.
d
Stated with symbols,  F ( x ) + c  = f ( x ) ⇔ ∫ f ( x ) dx = F ( x ) + c . The point here is that c
dx 
can be anything (as long as it is constant), because when we take the derivative, c disappears.
Indefinite integrals will not often appear in the courses you will be taking, because generally we
will be integrating over a particular set of upper and lower bounds. However, as in the
Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, we often use the indefinite integral in order to evaluate
definite integrals. Thus, techniques for finding indefinite integrals are still important for us.

The Practice of Integration: Methods and Techniques

The basic idea behind integration in practice is to find the function for which the derivative is the
1 1
thing you are trying to integrate. For example, ∫ xdx implies that x is the derivative of the
2 2
2
thing that we are looking for. If we recall that the derivative of x is 2x, then we can see that
1
part of our integrated function will be x 2 . We also have to pay attention to the in front, so if
2
we then think about that along with the coefficient (2) on our derivative, we can see that the
1 d 1 2 1
function we want to take the derivative of is x 2 , because  x  = x . This is almost but
4 dx  4  2
not completely correct: we must also pay attention to constants that may be part of our
antiderivative but that disappear when the derivative is taken (since the derivative of a constant is
1 1
zero). Thus, our final answer is ∫ xdx = x 2 + c . Had we had specific bounds of integration
2 4
(that is, had we been asked to solve a definite integral), we could now plug in those bounds and
take the difference (that is, use the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus) to find the answer. For
1
1 1 1 2  1 2 1 2  1
example, if the domain of x is [0,1] then we have: ∫0 2 xdx =  4 x 0 =  4 (1) − 4 ( 0 )  = 4 .
We can translate this intuition about the relationship between integrals and derivatives into some
simple rules of integration:

• ∫ kf ( x ) dx = k ∫ f ( x ) dx , where k is a constant
x n +1
∫ x dx =
n
• +c
n +1
∫ e dx = e + c
x x
•
1
• ∫ x dx = ln ( x ) + c
• ∫ ( f ( x ) dx ± g ( x ) dx ) = ∫ f ( x ) dx ± ∫ g ( x ) dx

Page | 2
Public Policy Boot Camp Math Lesson 4 Notes

Additionally, the following rules should come in handy for definite integrals in particular:

b a
• ∫a
f ( x ) dx = − ∫ f ( x ) dx
b
a
• ∫ f ( x ) dx = 0
a
c b c
• ∫ f ( x ) dx = ∫ f ( x ) dx + ∫ f ( x ) dx
a a b

Example 4.1 Integrate x 3 + x 2 − 5 x + 6 .

1 4 1 3 5 2
∫(x + x 2 − 5 x + 6 ) dx =
3
Solution 4.1 x + x − x + 6x + c
4 3 2

Just as derivatives can be extended to multiple variables, integrals can be as well. In the case of
integrals, we think of the multiple integration as nested: integrate one variable as if all other
variables are constant, then integrate the result over the next variable, and so on.

Example 4.2 Integrate x 2 + y 2 + 2 x − 12 y − 6 .

 1 
∫ ∫(x + y 2 + 2 x − 12 y − 6 ) dydx = ∫  x 2 y + y 3 + 2 xy − 6 y 2 − 6 y  dx
2
Solution 4.2
 3 
1 1
= x 3 y + xy 3 + x 2 y − 6 xy 2 − 6 xy + c
3 3
 1 
Note that ∫ ∫ ( x 2 + y 2 + 2 x − 12 y − 6 ) dxdy = ∫  x3 + xy 2 + x 2 − 12 xy − 6 x  dy
3 
1 1
= x 3 y + xy 3 + x 2 y − 6 xy 2 − 6 xy + c
3 3
yields the same answer, and that taking the derivative of this answer with respect to x and then
with respect to y (or vice versa) yields the original integrand (i.e. item being integrated).
Similarly, the order in which a definite integral is taken does not matter in many cases, by
Fubini’s theorem. That is, Fubini’s theorem (which we will not state here) often results in the
b d d b
following relationship: ∫ ∫ f ( x, y ) dydx = ∫ ∫ f ( x, y ) dxdy .
a c c a

2 2
Example 4.3 Integrate ∫ ∫ ( 4 xy − xe y ) dxdy .
2
1 1

2
2  2 2 1 2 y 2 1 y 2 3 y
∫ ∫ ∫
2 y 2 2
Solution 4.3  2 x y − x e  dy =  8 y − 2e − 2 y + e  dy =  6 y − e  dy
1 2 1
1
 2  1
 2 
2
 3  3 3 3 3 3 3
=  2 y 3 − e y  = 2 ( 2 ) − e 2 − 2 (1) + e = 14 − e2 + e
 2 1 2 2 2 2

Page | 3
Public Policy Boot Camp Math Lesson 4 Notes

The basic rules presented above are helpful for solving simple integrals, but are insufficient for
many commonly encountered integrals. Inverting the more complicated rules for differentiation
d
can greatly expand our toolkit. For example, the chain rule, g ( f ( x )) = g ' ( f ( x )) f ' ( x ) ,
dx
implies that ∫ g ' ( f ( x ) ) f ' ( x ) dx = g ( f ( x ) ) + c . This rule is applied using the technique of
u-substitution. When you realize that one function in your integral is actually the derivative of
another function in your integral, you can define a new variable (u) and rewrite the integral using
u and du rather than the original variable to make the integral much easier to solve. The
following example will illustrate this technique.

3
Example 4.4 Integrate 2 x ( x 2 + 1) .

du du
Solution 4.4 Note that the derivative of x 2 + 1 is 2x. So let u = x 2 + 1 → = 2 x → dx = .
dx 2x
du 3
∫ 2x ( x + 1) dx = ∫ 2 x ( u )
2x ∫
2 3
Then we can rewrite the integral = u 3 du . This integral is much
1 1 4
easier to solve, u 4 + c . We can now plug back in the original expression, and get ( x 2 + 1) + c
4 4

Careful! When solving definite integrals, always remember that the bounds of integration are
values of the variable over which the integral is being taken. Thus, had the above example been
2 3 1 4
( )
∫1 2 x x + 1 dx , it would NOT have been correct to plug in 1 and 2 to 4 u to get a final answer
2

1 4 1 4
of ( 2 ) − (1) = 3.75 . Rather, the bounds of integration must also be changed to be in terms
4 4
1 4 1 4
of u, u1 = 12 + 1 = 2 and u2 = 2 2 + 1 = 5 , to get ( 5 ) − ( 2 ) = 152.25 . Alternatively, we could
4 4
have left the bounds of integration alone but not made use of them until we got back to an
1 4
expression of our antiderivative in terms of x, namely ( x 2 + 1) , which would yield us the same
4
1 4 1 4 1 4 1
answer:
4
( 2

4
) 2
( 4
) 4
4
( 2 ) + 1 − (1) + 1 = ( 5) − ( 2 ) = 152.25 .

Another, more complicated rule that can often get us out of sticky situations is integration by
parts. This technique is useful when you can write the integrand as the product of two separate
integrable functions, and can be derived directly from the product rule for differentiation. The
b b
∫ udv = uv a − ∫ vdu for definite integrals and
b
method is
a a ∫ udv = uv − ∫ vdu for indefinite
integrals, where u and v are functions of x, and du and dv are the derivatives of those functions.

Page | 4
Public Policy Boot Camp Math Lesson 4 Notes

Example 4.5 Integrate ∫ x x + 1dx .

Solution 4.5 After staring at this for a while and confirming that we neither have a basic rule to
integrate this function nor can see a way to apply u-substitution, we look for a way to pick u and
dv such that we “differentiate out” one of the problem parts of the function so that we can then
use our simple rules. In this case, let u = x and dv = x + 1dx . This implies that du = dx and
2 2 2
v = ( x + 1) . We can then rewrite the integral as ∫ x x + 1dx = x ( x + 1) − ∫ ( x + 1) dx .
3/2 3/ 2 3/ 2

3 3 3
We can solve this new integral using u-substitution in a trivial sense: u = x + 1 → du = dx gives
2 2 2 4 2 4
us ∫ x x + 1dx = x ( x + 1) − ∫ u 3/2 du = x ( x + 1) − u 5/ 2 = x ( x + 1) − ( x + 1) .
3/2 3/2 3/2 5/2

3 3 3 15 3 15

The Application of Integration: Statistics and Economics

Even though techniques of optimization and differentiation are more common, there are many
applications of integration that you will see in statistics and economics. Below are some
examples. Later in this course, and in the economics portion of the course, we’ll discuss these
applications more deeply; for now, just take some of the concepts as given if you haven’t seen
them before or don’t remember them (well).

Because an integral represents the area under a function, it can easily be used to find the mean of
a set of data, where the data values are represented by a function of x. Notably, if f is a function
defined on the interval [ a, b] , then the mean (average) of the function f between a and b is the
1 b
b − a ∫a
value f ( x ) dx . Relatedly, if the function is the probability density function for a random
variable X (which we’ll talk about more in a future lesson but basically means that the function
represents the probability of the variable taking on the particular value x), then the expected
value of the random variable (basically a weighted mean) is E ( X ) = ∫ xf ( x ) dx , where the
integral’s bounds are the bounds of the domain of X.

λ e − λ x x≥0
Example 4.6 Find the expected value of the density function f ( x ) =  .
 0 x<0
∞
Solution 4.6 E ( X ) = ∫ xf ( x ) dx = ∫ xλ e − λ x dx . We can’t integrate directly, so we’ll have to
0

integrate by parts. Choose u = x → du = dx and dv = λ e − λ x dx → v = − e − λ x . Thus we can rewrite

∞
−λ x ∞
∞  1  1
our integral as − xe +∫ e −λ x
dx =  − xe − λ x − e− λ x  = .
0 0
 λ 0 λ

Page | 5
Public Policy Boot Camp Math Lesson 4 Notes

One requirement of a probability density function is that it’s integral add up to 1 (since all
probabilities must add up to 1—something/some event always happens). More formally, f ( x )
b
is a probability density function over the interval [ a, b] if and only if ∫ f ( x ) dx = 1 .
a

18 12 2
 x− x 0 < x <1
Example 4.7 Check that f ( x ) =  5 5 is, in fact, a density function.
 0 otherwise

1
18
1 12  18 1 2 12 1 3  9 4 5
Solution 4.7 ∫  x − x 2  dx =  x − x = − = =1
0
5 5  5 2 5 3  0 5 5 5

Another use of the probability density function is to find the probability that the random variable
has taken on a value in some range of values. Notably, the probability of observing the variable
d
in the interval [ c, d ] is expressed as P ( c < X < d ) = ∫ f ( x ) dx , where f ( x ) is again the
c
probability density function.
2e −2 x x≥0
Example 4.8 Find P ( 0 < X < 1) using the density function f ( x ) =  .
 0 otherwise
1 1
Solution 4.8 P ( 0 < X < 1) = ∫ 2e−2 x dx = −e −2 x = 1 − e −2
0 0

There are also several notable economic applications of integrals. Just as the marginal cost for a
firm can be found by taking the derivative of that firm’s total cost function, the total cost can be
found by integrating the marginal cost, as long as the fixed costs are provided. Moreover, since
consumer surplus is defined as the area under the (inverse) demand curve and above the market
price, it can be found via integration as well.

Example 4.9 If a firm’s fixed cost is 27 and its marginal cost is MC ( Q ) = 3Q 2 , what is the
firm’s total cost function?

Solution 4.9 TC ( Q ) = ∫ MC ( Q ) dQ = ∫ 3Q 2 dQ = Q 3 + c . To get rid of the arbitrary constant, we

note that TC ( 0 ) = FC = 27 . So TC ( 0 ) = 03 + c = 27 → c = 27 . Thus, the total cost function is
TC ( Q ) = Q3 + 27 .

Example 4.10 If a market’s demand curve is given by P = 10 − Q and the market price is 5, what
is the consumer surplus?

Solution 4.10 Careful! It’s important in consumer surplus problems to make sure that you are
being consistent in terms of over which variable you are integrating. With the demand function
5
5 5  1 
as is, consumer surplus is ∫ (10 − Q ) dQ − ∫ 5dQ = 10Q − Q 2  − [5Q ]0 = 50 − 12.5 − 25 = 12.5 .
5
0 0
 2 0

Page | 6
Public Policy Boot Camp Math Lesson 4 Notes

We could only have to take one integral if we made price our variable of integration, but in that
case the bounds of integration must also be in terms of price. That is, in order to get the same
10

(10 − P ) dP = 10P − P 2  = 100 − 50 − 50 + 12.5 = 12.5 .

10 1
answer, we would have to find ∫
5
 2 5

The Avoidance of Integration: Formulas for Area

Sometimes, when we have to work with nonlinear functions, integration is absolutely necessary
to operate in the applications mentioned above. The demand function given in Example 4.10,
however, was a straight line, and thus we could have found the consumer surplus merely by
1 1
calculating the area of a triangle: bh = ( 5 )( 5 ) = 12.5 . A smart mathematician is an efficient
2 2
mathematician; since integration represents the area under a curve, we can use geometry rather
than integration to find such areas whenever possible. It behooves us, therefore, to recall some
of the more common formulas for area that you learned way back in geometry class.

• Rectangle: A = bh , where b and h are the two dimensions of the rectangle

• Square (rectangle with b = h = s ): A = s 2
1
• Triangle: A = bh , where b is the length of any side (the base) and h is the length of a
2
perpendicular line from the base to the top of the triangle (the height)
3 2
• Equilateral triangle: A = s , where s is the length of a side
4
• Parallelogram: A = bh
1
• Trapezoid: A = h ( b1 + b2 ) , where the b’s are the lengths of the two parallel sides
2
2
• Circle: A = π r , where r is the radius of the circle, the distance from center to edge
• Ellipse: A = π ab , where a and b are the lengths of the semi-major and semi-minor axes
3 3 2
• Hexagon: A = s , where s is the length of a side
2
• ( )
Octagon: A = 2 1 + 2 s 2 , where s is the length of a side
Obviously, some of these formulas aren’t very likely to be useful in lieu of any integrals you will
come across. But some of them will be useful often, and it never hurts to know the others.

Page | 7