MTH 252

Section 5.1
Exercise 18
Justin Drawbert
July 14, 2010

In James Stewart’s Calculus: Concepts and Contexts, 4th Edition, Section 5.1, Exercise 18, we
are given the fuction √
f (x) = x2 + 1 + 2x, 4 ≤ x ≤ 7
Using Definition 2, we are asked to find an expression for the area under the function expressed as
a limit, but are asked not to evaluate the limit.

Definition 2: The area A of the region S that lies under the graph of the continuous function f
is the limit of the sum of the areas of approximating rectangles:

A = lim Rn = lim [f (x1 )∆x + f (x2 )∆x + · · · + f (xn )∆x]

n→∞ n→∞
= lim [f (x1 ) + f (x2 ) + · · · + f (xn )] ∆x
n→∞

Which we can then put in sigma notation

n
X
A = lim f (xi )∆x
n→∞
i=1

Where, for a function f over the interval [a, b],

b−a
∆x = and xi = a + i∆x
n
So using this and considering our original funtion we get
4−7 3 3i
∆x = = and xi = 4 +
n n n
Putting it all together give us

A = lim Rn = lim [f (x1 )∆x + f (x2 )∆x + · · · + f (xn )∆x]

n→∞ n→∞
n
X
= lim f (xi )∆x
n→∞
i=1
n
" 2 s  #
X 3i 3i 3
= lim 4+ + 1+2 4+ ·
n→∞
i=1
n n n

This is an important concept because, as we will see later, once the equation is in this form, it is
then possible to actually evaluate this limit and get an exact value of the area under the curve.