MODULE 1

 Indefinite Integral
& It’s Properties

Power Formula
 INDEFINITE INTEGRAL & POWER FORMULA

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

We’ve been given a function, f(x) and asking what the derivative of this function was. Starting
with this section we are now going to turn things around. We now want to ask what function
we differentiated to get the function f(x).
Let’s take a quick look at an example to get us started.

Example 1. What function did we differentiate to get the following function f(x) = x4 + 3x + 9

Solution:
Let’s actually start by getting the derivative of this function to help us see how we’re going to
have to approach this problem. The derivative of this function is, f′(x) = 4x3 + 3.

We got x4 by differentiating a function and since we drop the exponent by one it looks like we
must have differentiated x5. However, if we had differentiated x5 we would have 5x4 and we
don’t have a 5 in front our first term, so the 5 needs to cancel out after we’ve differentiated. It
looks then like we would have to differentiate ⅕ x5 in order to get x4.
Likewise, for the second term, in order to get 3x after differentiating we would have to
differentiate 3/2x2. Again, the fraction is there to cancel out the 2 we pick up in the
differentiation.

The third term is just a constant and we know that if we differentiate x we get 1. So, it looks
like we had to differentiate 9x to get the last term.

Putting all of this together gives the following function, F(x) = ⅕ x5 + 3/2x2 + 9x

Our answer is easy enough to check. Simply differentiate F(x).

F′(x) = x4 + 3x + 9 = f(x)

DEFINITIONS:

Given a function, f(x), an anti-derivative of f(x) is any

function F(x) such that F'(x) = f(x). If F(x) is any
anti-derivative of f(x) then the most general anti-derivative
of f(x is called an indefinite integral and denoted,

∫f(x)dx = F(x)+c

Where: ∫- integral symbol,

f(x) - integrand, (given function)
F(x) - integral, (function whose derivative is f(x)dx)
x - integration variable
“c”- constant of integration.

∫f(x)dx is called the INDEFINITE INTEGRAL of f(x) because the derivative of a given function is
not completely determined.

The process of finding the indefinite integral is called integration or integrating f(x). If we need
to be specific about the integration variable we will say that we are integrating f(x) with
respect to x.

Example 2 Evaluate the following indefinite integral. ∫(x4 + 3x + 9)dx

Solution:

Since this is really asking for the most general anti-derivative we just need to reuse the final
answer from the first example.

The indefinite integral is, ∫(x4 + 3x + 9)dx = ⅕ x5 + 3/2x2 + 9x + c

 Remember: Think of the integral sign and the dx as a set of parentheses.
With integrals, think of the integral sign as an “open parenthesis” and
the dx as a “close parenthesis”.

If you drop the dx it won’t be clear where the integrand ends. Consider
the following variations of the above example.

∫ x4 + 3x + 9 dx = ⅕ x5 + 3/2x2 + 9x +c
∫ x4 + 3xdx + 9 = ⅕ x5 + 3/2x2 + c + 9
∫ x4 dx + 3x + 9 = ⅕ x5 + c + 3x + 9

Only integrate what is between the integral sign and the dx. Each of the above integrals end in
a different place and so we get different answers because we integrate a different number of
terms each time.

Changing the integration variable in the integral simply changes the variable in the answer. It is
important to notice however that when we change the integration variable in the integral we
also changed the differential (dx, dt, or dw) to match the new variable. This is more important
than we might realize at this point.

∫ x4 + 3x + 9 dx = ⅕ x5 + 3/2x2 + 9x +c
∫ t4 + 3t + 9 dt = ⅕ t5 + 3/2t2 + 9t +c
∫w4 + 3w + 9 dw = ⅕ w5 + 3/2w2 + 9w +c

To see why this is important take a look at the following two integrals.

1.) ∫ 2xdx = x2 + c 2.) ∫ 2tdx = 2t ∫dx= 2tx+c

The first integral is simple enough. The second integral is also fairly simple, but we need to be
careful. The dx tells us that we are integrating x’s. That means that we only integrate x’s that
are in the integrand and all other variables in the integrand are considered to be constants. So,
it may seem silly to always put in the dx, but it is a vital bit of notation that can cause us to get
the incorrect answer if we neglect to put it in.
 Properties of the Indefinite Integral:

1. ∫dx = x + c, definition of an integral

2. ∫kf(x)dx = k∫f(x)dx, where k is any number. So, we can factor
multiplicative constants out of indefinite integrals.
3. ∫f(x) ± g(x)dx = ∫f(x)dx ± ∫g(x)dx. In other words, the integral of a sum
or difference of functions is the sum or difference of the individual integrals. This rule can be
extended to as many functions as we need.

 POWER FORMULA

x n 1
∫x dx =
n
c, n≠−1
n 1

u n 1
∫undu = c, n≠−1
n 1

The general rule when integrating a power of x we add one onto the exponent and then divide
by the new exponent. It is clear (hopefully) that we will need to avoid n = −1 in this formula. If
we allow n = −1 in this formula we will end up with division by zero.

Evaluate the following indefinite integral:

 1 
1.  3 x 3  1  2 dx
 2x 
 
x 2
   3 x 3  1  dx
 2
1
 3 x 3 dx   dx   x  2
2
3 1
x 1 x  21
3 x c
3 1 2 (2  1)
4
x 1 x 1
3 x c
4 2 (1)
4
3x 1
 x c
4 2x
 
2. a 2  y 2 ydy 6

1

2   6
a 2  y 2 (2 ydy ) 


1 a2  y2 
7

c
2 7


a 2
 y2  7

c
14


3. a 2  x 2 dx  2

  a 4
 2a 2 x 2  x 4 dx 
 a 4  dx  2a 2  x 2 dx   x 4 dx
x3 x5
 a 4 x  2a 2  c
3 5
2a 2 x 3 x 5
 a4x   c
3 5

4. y (4  y 2 )dy

  (4 y  y 3 )dy

 4  ydy   y 3 dy
y2 y4
4  c
2 4
y4
 2y2  c
4 4. y (4  y 2 )dy
*Another solution:   (4  y 2 ) ydy
1
2
 (4  y 2 )(2 ydy )

(4  y 2 ) 2
 c
2( 2)
(4  y 2 ) 2
 c
4
5. cos 2 sin 2d
1

  (cos 2 ) sin 2d

2

1
1
2 
 (cos 2 ) 2 (2) sin 2d
3

 1 (cos 2 ) 2
 c
2 3
2
3

 (cos 2 ) 2
 c
3

6. sec 5 x tan xdx

  sec 4 x sec x tan xdx

sec 5 x
 c
5
ln ydy
7.
y
dy
  ln y
y
(ln y ) 2
 c
2
3

8. e (4  e ) dx
x x 2

  (4  e ) e x dx
x 2

   (4  e ) (e x )dx
x 2

(4  e x ) 2
 c
5
2
5
x
2( 4  e ) 2
 c
5
 Evaluate the following indefinite integral:

 x 
4
6
1.  7 x dx

2 x  1dx
2.  ( x  4) 4
( x  1) 4
 1

 (6 cos y  sin y ) 2 cos y sin ydy

2 2
3.

 sin
4
4. (e 2 x ) cos(e 2 x )e 2 x dx