With the technical preliminaries out of the way, the two fundamental aspects of calculus may be examined:
- a. Finding the instantaneous rate of change of a variable quantity.
- b. Calculating areas, volumes, and related “totals” by adding together many small parts.
Although it is not immediately obvious, each process is the inverse of the other, and this is why the two are brought together under the same overall heading. The first process is called differentiation, the second integration. Following a discussion of each, the relationship between them will be examined.
Differentiation is about rates of change; for geometric curves and figures, this means determining the slope, or tangent, along a given direction. Being able to calculate rates of change also allows one to determine where maximum and minimum values occur—the title of Leibniz’s first calculus publication was “Nova Methodus pro Maximis et Minimis, Itemque Tangentibus, qua nec Fractas nec Irrationales Quantitates Moratur, et Singulare pro illi Calculi Genus” (1684; “A New Method for Maxima and Minima, as Well as Tangents, Which Is Impeded Neither by Fractional nor by Irrational Quantities, and a Remarkable Type of Calculus for This”). Early applications for calculus included the study of gravity and planetary motion, fluid flow and ship design, and geometric curves and bridge engineering.
Average rates of change
A simple illustrative example of rates of change is the speed of a moving object. An object moving at a constant speed travels a distance that is proportional to the time. For example, a car moving at 50 kilometres per hour (km/hr) travels 50 km in 1 hr, 100 km in 2 hr, 150 km in 3 hr, and so on. A graph of the distance traveled against the time elapsed looks like a straight line whose slope, or gradient, yields the speed (see ).
Constant speeds pose no particular problems—in the example above, any time interval yields the same speed—but variable speeds are less straightforward. Nevertheless, a similar approach can be used to calculate the average speed of an object traveling at varying speeds: simply divide the total distance traveled by the time taken to traverse it. Thus, a car that takes 2 hr to travel 100 km moves with an average speed of 50 km/hr. However, it may not travel at the same speed for the entire period. It may slow down, stop, or even go backward for parts of the time, provided that during other parts it speeds up enough to cover the total distance of 100 km. Thus, average speeds—certainly if the average is taken over long intervals of time—do not tell us the actual speed at any given moment.
Instantaneous rates of change
In fact, it is not so easy to make sense of the concept of “speed at a given moment.” How long is a moment? Zeno of Elea, a Greek philosopher who flourished about 450 bce, pointed out in one of his celebrated paradoxes that a moving arrow, at any instant of time, is fixed. During zero time it must travel zero distance. Another way to say this is that the instantaneous speed of a moving object cannot be calculated by dividing the distance that it travels in zero time by the time that it takes to travel that distance. This calculation leads to a fraction, 0/0, that does not possess any well-defined meaning. Normally, a fraction indicates a specific quotient. For example, 6/3 means 2, the number that, when multiplied by 3, yields 6. Similarly, 0/0 should mean the number that, when multiplied by 0, yields 0. But any number multiplied by 0 yields 0. In principle, then, 0/0 can take any value whatsoever, and in practice it is best considered meaningless.
Despite these arguments, there is a strong feeling that a moving object does move at a well-defined speed at each instant. Passengers know when a car is traveling faster or slower. So the meaninglessness of 0/0 is by no means the end of the story. Various mathematicians—both before and after Newton and Leibniz—argued that good approximations to the instantaneous speed can be obtained by finding the average speed over short intervals of time. If a car travels 5 metres in one second, then its average speed is 18 km/hr, and, unless the speed is varying wildly, its instantaneous speed must be close to 18 km/hr. A shorter time period can be used to refine the estimate further.
If a mathematical formula is available for the total distance traveled in a given time, then this idea can be turned into a formal calculation. For example, suppose that after time t seconds an object travels a distance t2 metres. (Similar formulas occur for bodies falling freely under gravity, so this is a reasonable choice.) To determine the object’s instantaneous speed after precisely one second, its average speed over successively shorter time intervals will be calculated.
To start the calculation, observe that between time t = 1 and t = 1.1 the distance traveled is 1.12 − 1 = 0.21. The average speed over that interval is therefore 0.21/0.1 = 2.1 metres per second. For a finer approximation, the distance traveled between times t = 1 and t = 1.01 is 1.012 − 1 = 0.0201, and the average speed is 0.0201/0.01 = 2.01 metres per second.
The table displays successively finer approximations to the average speed after one second. It is clear that the smaller the interval of time, the closer the average speed is to 2 metres per second. The structure of the entire table points very compellingly to an exact value for the instantaneous speed—namely, 2 metres per second. Unfortunately, 2 cannot be found anywhere in the table. However far it is extended, every entry in the table looks like 2.000…0001, with perhaps a huge number of zeros, but always with a 1 on the end. Neither is there the option of choosing a time interval of 0, because then the distance traveled is also 0, which leads back to the meaningless fraction 0/0.
|Approximations to a rate of change|
|start time||end time||distance traveled||elapsed time||average speed|
Formal definition of the derivative
More generally, suppose an arbitrary time interval h starts from the time t = 1. Then the distance traveled is (1 + h)2 −12, which simplifies to give 2h + h2. The time taken is h. Therefore, the average speed over that time interval is (2h + h2)/h, which equals 2 + h, provided h ≠ 0. Obviously, as h approaches zero, this average speed approaches 2. Therefore, the definition of instantaneous speed is satisfied by the value 2 and only that value. What has not been done here—indeed, what the whole procedure deliberately avoids—is to set h equal to 0. As Bishop George Berkeley pointed out in the 18th century, to replace (2h + h2)/h by 2 + h, one must assume h is not zero, and that is what the rigorous definition of a limit achieves.
Even more generally, suppose the calculation starts from an arbitrary time t instead of a fixed t = 1. Then the distance traveled is (t + h)2 − t2, which simplifies to 2th + h2. The time taken is again h. Therefore, the average speed over that time interval is (2th + h2)/h, or 2t + h. Obviously, as h approaches zero, this average speed approaches the limit 2t.
This procedure is so important that it is given a special name: the derivative of t2 is 2t, and this result is obtained by differentiating t2 with respect to t.
One can now go even further and replace t2 by any other function f of time. The distance traveled between times t and t + h is f(t + h) − f(t). The time taken is h. So the average speed is (f(t + h) − f(t))/h. (3) If (3) tends to a limit as h tends to zero, then that limit is defined as the derivative of f(t), written f′(t). Another common notation for the derivative is df/dt, symbolizing small change in f divided by small change in t. A function is differentiable at t if its derivative exists for that specific value of t. It is differentiable if the derivative exists for all t for which f(t) is defined. A differentiable function must be continuous, but the converse is false. (Indeed, in 1872 Weierstrass produced the first example of a continuous function that cannot be differentiated at any point—a function now known as a nowhere differentiable function.) Table 2 lists the derivatives of a small number of elementary functions. It also lists their integrals, described below.
The above ideas have a graphical interpretation. Associated with any function f(t) is a graph in which the horizontal axis represents the variable t and the vertical axis represents the value of the function. Choose a value for t, calculate f(t), and draw the corresponding point; now repeat for all appropriate t. The result is a curve, the graph of f (see part A of the ). For example, if f(t) = t2, then f(t) = 0 when t = 0, f(t) = 1 when t = 1, f(t) = 4 when t = 2, f(t) = 9 when t = 3, and so on, leading to the curve shown in part B of the figure, known as a parabola.
Expression (3), the numerical calculation of the average speed traveled between times t and t + h, also can be represented graphically. The two times can be plotted as two points on the curve, as shown in the, and a line can be drawn joining the two points. This line is called a secant, or chord, of the curve, and its slope corresponds to the change in distance with respect to time—that is, the average speed traveled between t and t + h. If, as h becomes smaller and smaller, this slope tends to a limiting value, then the direction of the chord stabilizes and the chord approximates more and more closely the tangent to the graph at t. Thus, the numerical notion of instantaneous rate of change of f(t) with respect to t corresponds to the geometric notion of the slope of the tangent to the graph.
The graphical interpretation suggests a number of useful problem-solving techniques. An example is finding the maximum value of a continuously differentiable function f(x) defined in some interval a ≤ x ≤ b. Either f attains its maximum at an endpoint, x = a or x = b, or it attains a maximum for some x inside this interval. In the latter case, as x approaches the maximum value, the curve defined by f rises more and more slowly, levels out, and then starts to fall. In other words, as x increases from a to b, the derivative f′(x) is positive while the function f(x) rises to its maximum value, f′(x) is zero at the value of x for which f(x) has a maximum value, and f′(x) is negative while f(x) declines from its maximum value. Simply stated, maximum values can be located by solving the equation f′(x) = 0.
It is necessary to check whether the resulting value genuinely is a maximum, however. First, all of the above reasoning applies at any local maximum—a place where f(x) is larger than all values of f(x) for nearby values of x. A function can have several local maxima, not all of which are overall (“global”) maxima. Moreover, the derivative f′(x) vanishes at any (local) minimum value inside the interval. Indeed, it can sometimes vanish at places where the value is neither a maximum nor a minimum. An example is f(x) = x3 for −1 ≤ x ≤1. Here f′(x) = 3x2 so f′(0) = 0, but 0 is neither a maximum nor a minimum. For x < 0 the value of f(x) gets smaller than the value f(0) = 0, but for x > 0 it gets larger. Such a point is called a point of inflection. In general, solutions of f′(x) = 0 are called critical points of f.
Local maxima, local minima, and points of inflection are useful features of a function f that can aid in sketching its graph. Solving the equation f′(x) = 0 provides a list of critical values of x near which the shape of the curve is determined—concave up near a local minimum, concave down near a local maximum, and changing concavity at an inflection point. Moreover, between any two adjacent critical points of f, the values of f either increase steadily or decrease steadily—that is, the direction of the slope cannot change. By combining such information, the general qualitative shape of the graph of f can often be determined.
For example, suppose that f(x) = x3 − 3x + 2 is defined for −3 ≤ x ≤ 3. The critical points are solutions x of 0 = f′(x) = 3x2 − 3; that is, x = −1 and x = 1. When x < −1 the slope is positive; for −1 < x < 1 the slope is negative; for x > 1 the slope is positive again. Thus, x = −1 is a local maximum, and x = 1 is a local minimum. Therefore, the graph of f slopes upward from left to right as x runs from −3 to −1, then slopes downward as x runs from −1 to 1, and finally slopes upward again as x runs from 1 to 3. In addition, the value of f at some representative points within these intervals can be calculated to obtain the graph shown in the.
The process of differentiation can be applied several times in succession, leading in particular to the second derivative f″ of the function f, which is just the derivative of the derivative f′. The second derivative often has a useful physical interpretation. For example, if f(t) is the position of an object at time t, then f′(t) is its speed at time t and f″(t) is its acceleration at time t. Newton’s laws of motion state that the acceleration of an object is proportional to the total force acting on it; so second derivatives are of central importance in dynamics. The second derivative is also useful for graphing functions, because it can quickly determine whether each critical point, c, corresponds to a local maximum (f″(c) < 0), a local minimum (f″(c) > 0), or a change in concavity (f″(c) = 0). Third derivatives occur in such concepts as curvature; and even fourth derivatives have their uses, notably in elasticity. The nth derivative of f(x) is denoted by f(n)(x) or dnf/dxn and has important applications in power series.
An infinite series of the form a0 + a1x + a2x2 +⋯, where x and the aj are real numbers, is called a power series. The aj are the coefficients. The series has a legitimate meaning, provided the series converges. In general, there exists a real number R such that the series converges when −R < x < R but diverges if x < −R or x > R. The range of values −R < x < R is called the interval of convergence. The behaviour of the series at x = R or x = −R is more delicate and depends on the coefficients. If R = 0 the series has little utility, but when R > 0 the sum of the infinite series defines a function f(x). Any function f that can be defined by a convergent power series is said to be real-analytic.
The coefficients of the power series of a real-analytic function can be expressed in terms of derivatives of that function. For values of x inside the interval of convergence, the series can be differentiated term by term; that is, f′(x) = a1 + 2a2x + 3a3x2 +⋯, and this series also converges. Repeating this procedure and then setting x = 0 in the resulting expressions shows that a0 = f(0), a1 = f′(0), a2 = f″(0)/2, a3 = f′′′(0)/6, and, in general, aj = f(j)(0)/j!. That is, within the interval of convergence of f,
This expression is the Maclaurin series of f, otherwise known as the Taylor series of f about 0. A slight generalization leads to the Taylor series of f about a general value x: All these series are meaningful only if they converge.
For example, it can be shown that ex = 1 + x + x2/2! + x3/3! +⋯, sin (x) = x − x3/3! + x5/5! − ⋯, cos (x) = 1 − x2/2! + x4/4! − ⋯, and these series converge for all x.
Like differentiation, integration has its roots in ancient problems—particularly, finding the area or volume of irregular objects and finding their centre of mass. Essentially, integration generalizes the process of summing up many small factors to determine some whole.
Also like differentiation, integration has a geometric interpretation. The (definite) integral of the function f, between initial and final values t = a and t = b, is the area of the region enclosed by the graph of f, the horizontal axis, and the vertical lines t = a and t = b, as shown in the . It is denoted by the symbol Integral on the interval [a, b ] of ∫ abf(t)dt. Here the symbol ∫ is an elongated s, for sum, because the integral is the limit of a particular kind of sum. The values a and b are often, confusingly, called the limits of the integral; this terminology is unrelated to the limit concept introduced in the section Technical preliminaries.
The fundamental theorem of calculus
The process of calculating integrals is called integration. Integration is related to differentiation by the fundamental theorem of calculus, which states that (subject to the mild technical condition that the function be continuous) the derivative of the integral is the original function. In symbols, the fundamental theorem is stated as d/dt(Integral on the interval [a, t ] of ∫ atf(u)du) = f(t).
The reasoning behind this theorem (see) can be demonstrated in a logical progression, as follows: Let A(t) be the integral of f from a to t. Then the derivative of A(t) is very closely approximated by the quotient (A(t + h) − A(t))/h. This is 1/h times the area under the graph of f between t and t + h. For continuous functions f the value of f(t), for t in the interval, changes only slightly, so it must be very close to f(t). The area is therefore close to hf(t), so the quotient is close to hf(t)/h = f(t). Taking the limit as h tends to zero, the result follows.
Strict mathematical logic aside, the importance of the fundamental theorem of calculus is that it allows one to find areas by antidifferentiation—the reverse process to differentiation. To integrate a given function f, just find a function F whose derivative F′ is equal to f. Then the value of the integral is the difference F(b) − F(a) between the value of F at the two limits. For example, since the derivative of t3 is 3t2, take the antiderivative of 3t2 to be t3. The area of the region enclosed by the graph of the function y = 3t2, the horizontal axis, and the vertical lines t = 1 and t = 2, for example, is given by the integral Integral on the interval [1, 2 ] of ∫ 12 3t2dt. By the fundamental theorem of calculus, this is the difference between the values of t3 when t = 2 and t = 1; that is, 23 − 13 = 7.
All the basic techniques of calculus for finding integrals work in this manner. They provide a repertoire of tricks for finding a function whose derivative is a given function. Most of what is taught in schools and colleges under the name calculus consists of rules for calculating the derivatives and integrals of functions of various forms and of particular applications of those techniques, such as finding the length of a curve or the surface area of a solid of revolution.
Table 2 lists the integrals of a small number of elementary functions. In the table, the symbol c denotes an arbitrary constant. (Because the derivative of a constant is zero, the antiderivative of a function is not unique: adding a constant makes no difference. When an integral is evaluated between two specific limits, this constant is subtracted from itself and thus cancels out. In the indefinite integral, another name for the antiderivative, the constant must be included.)
The Riemann integral
The task of analysis is to provide not a computational method but a sound logical foundation for limiting processes. Oddly enough, when it comes to formalizing the integral, the most difficult part is to define the term area. It is easy to define the area of a shape whose edges are straight; for example, the area of a rectangle is just the product of the lengths of two adjoining sides. But the area of a shape with curved edges can be more elusive. The answer, again, is to set up a suitable limiting process that approximates the desired area with simpler regions whose areas can be calculated.
The first successful general method for accomplishing this is usually credited to the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann in 1853, although it has many precursors (both in ancient Greece and in China). Given some function f(t), consider the area of the region enclosed by the graph of f, the horizontal axis, and the vertical lines t = a and t = b. Riemann’s approach is to slice this region into thin vertical strips (see part A of the ) and to approximate its area by sums of areas of rectangles, both from the inside (part B of the figure) and from the outside (part C of the figure). If both of these sums converge to the same limiting value as the thickness of the slices tends to zero, then their common value is defined to be the Riemann integral of f between the limits a and b. If this limit exists for all a, b, then f is said to be (Riemann) integrable. Every continuous function is integrable.