NCERT Book Class 12 Maths Chapter 7 Integrals

INTEGRALS 225

Chapter 7
INTEGRALS

v Just as a mountaineer climbs a mountain – because it is there, so
a good mathematics student studies new material because
it is there. — JAMES B. BRISTOL v

7.1 Introduction
Differential Calculus is centred on the concept of the
derivative. The original motivation for the derivative was
the problem of defining tangent lines to the graphs of
functions and calculating the slope of such lines. Integral
Calculus is motivated by the problem of defining and
calculating the area of the region bounded by the graph of
the functions.
If a function f is differentiable in an interval I, i.e., its
derivative f ′exists at each point of I, then a natural question
arises that given f ′at each point of I, can we determine
the function? The functions that could possibly have given
function as a derivative are called anti derivatives (or G .W. Leibnitz
primitive) of the function. Further, the formula that gives (1646 -1716)
all these anti derivatives is called the indefinite integral of the function and such
process of finding anti derivatives is called integration. Such type of problems arise in
many practical situations. For instance, if we know the instantaneous velocity of an
object at any instant, then there arises a natural question, i.e., can we determine the
position of the object at any instant? There are several such practical and theoretical
situations where the process of integration is involved. The development of integral
calculus arises out of the efforts of solving the problems of the following types:
(a) the problem of finding a function whenever its derivative is given,
(b) the problem of finding the area bounded by the graph of a function under certain
conditions.
These two problems lead to the two forms of the integrals, e.g., indefinite and
definite integrals, which together constitute the Integral Calculus.