Tag Archives: Integration

December 23, 2024 · 3:45 am

Volume of Revolution – Method One (Disc or Washer Method)

If we rotate this line segment around the $x-$ axis, we generate a three dimensional solid.

We are going to find the volume of this solid.

Consider a small section of the line segment and rotate this about the $x-$ axis.

As the width of the section $(\delta x)$ gets smaller (i.e. $\rightarrow 0$ ), the solid is a cylinder.

The radius of the cylinder is $f(x)$ and the height of the cylinder is $\delta x$ .

The volume of a cylinder is $V=\pi r^2 h$

Hence the volume of our section is

$\begin{equation*}V=\pi[f(x)]^2\delta x\end{equation}$

If we divide our line segment into a large number of cylinders (of equal height) then,

$\begin{equation*}V=\Sigma_a^b(\pi [f(x)]^2\delta x\end{equation}$

where $a$ is the lower $x$ value and $b$ the upper.

Now we want $\delta x\rightarrow 0$ so $V=\lim\limits_{\delta x \to 0} \Sigma_a^b(\pi [f(x)]^2\delta x$

Which is

$\begin{equation*}V=\int_a^b \pi [f(x)]^2 dx\end{equation}$

The curve $y=\sqrt{x-1}$ , where $2\le x\le5$ is rotated about the $x-$ axis to form a solid of revolution. Find the volume of this solid.

$\begin{equation*}V=\pi \int_2^5( y^2 dx)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}V=\pi \int_2^5 x-1 \space dx \end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}V=\pi (\frac{x^2}{2}-x]_2^5)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}V=\pi(\frac{25}{2}-5-(\frac{4}{2}-2))\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}V=\frac{15 \pi}{2}\end{equation}$

November 20, 2024 · 6:57 am

I went down a rabbit hole while reading An Imaginary Tale by Paul J Nahin and I decided I wanted to do this…

$\begin{equation*}\int_0^1{x^x dx}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}x^x=e^{ln(x^x)}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}x^x=e^{xln(x)}\end{equation}$

The power series expansion of $e^x$ is

$\begin{equation*}e^x=1+x+\frac{1}{2!}x^2+\frac{1}{3!}x^3+\frac{1}{4!}x^4+...\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\therefore e^{xln(x)}=1+xln(x)+\frac{1}{2!}(xln(x))^2+\frac{1}{3!}(xln(x))^3+...\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\therefore e^{xln(x)}=\Sigma_{n=0}^{\infty}(\frac{1}{n!}(xln(x))^n)\end{equation}$

Hence $\int_0^1{x^x dx}=\int_0^1(\Sigma_{n=0}^{\infty}(\frac{1}{n!}(xln(x))^n dx)$

$\begin{equation*}=\Sigma_{n=0}^{\infty}(\frac{1}{n!}\int_0^1xln(x))^n dx)\end{equation}$

Let’s consider the integral

(1) $\begin{equation*}\int_0^1 x^n(ln(x))^n dx\end{equation*}$

Let $u=ln(x)$ then $\frac{du}{dx}=\frac{1}{x}$ and $dx=x du$ where $x=e^u$

When $x=0, u=-\infty$ and when $x=1, u=0$

(2) $\begin{equation*}\int_0^1 x^n(ln(x))^n dx=\int_{-\infty}^0 e^{nu}u^ne^u du\end{equation*}$

(3) $\begin{equation*}\int_0^1 x^n(ln(x))^n dx=\int_{-\infty}^0 e^{(n+1)u}u^n du\end{equation*}$

Integrate by parts using the tabular method.