You may also like
Area L
By sketching a graph of a continuous increasing function, can you prove a useful result about integrals?
Age 16 to 18
Challenge Level
How might you sort these integrals into an order or different groups?
$$ \int\frac{1}{1+x^2}\rm dx\quad\quad\int\frac{1}{1-x^2}\,dx $$ $$ \int\frac{1}{(1+x)^2}\,dx\quad\quad\int\frac{1}{(1-x)^2}\,dx $$ $$ \int\frac{1}{1+x}\,dx\quad\quad\int\frac{1}{1-x}\,dx $$ $$ \int\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+x^2}}\,dx\quad\quad\int\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-x}}\,dx $$ $$ \int{\sqrt{1+x^2}}\,dx\quad\quad\int{\sqrt{1-x^2}}\,dx $$ $$ \int \sqrt{1+x}dx\quad\quad\int \sqrt{1-x}\,dx $$
Did you know ... ?
Although you can compute many integrals using Wolfram's integrator, if you do enough mathematics you will realise that the class of functions which integrate to a closed algebraic form is, by most ways of counting, small. There are many advanced analytical tools which allow for the manipulation and approximate computation of integrals more generally. A large part of this procedure involves classifying integrals into different types before suitable approximations are made.
Although you can compute many integrals using Wolfram's integrator, if you do enough mathematics you will realise that the class of functions which integrate to a closed algebraic form is, by most ways of counting, small. There are many advanced analytical tools which allow for the manipulation and approximate computation of integrals more generally. A large part of this procedure involves classifying integrals into different types before suitable approximations are made.
Copyright © 1997 - 2023. University of Cambridge.
All rights reserved.
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.