Area bounded between two curves, choosing curves

[JesseJC]

I don't have a particular problem in mind here, so please move this thread if it's in the wrong section.

I was wondering, when you're trying to find the area bounded between two curves, is there a foolproof way to choose which curve to be g(x) in (let S be the integral sign, haha) S[f(x)-g(x)]dx? Is there a way to tell by looking at the graph?

I've done a few of these problems and choosing which curve to subtract is not always intuitive, to me at least.

 

[PWiz]

I don't have a particular problem in mind here, so please move this thread if it's in the wrong section.

I was wondering, when you're trying to find the area bounded between two curves, is there a foolproof way to choose which curve to be g(x) in (let S be the integral sign, haha) S[f(x)-g(x)]dx? Is there a way to tell by looking at the graph?

I've done a few of these problems and choosing which curve to subtract is not always intuitive, to me at least.

It really doesn't matter - the two answers that you'll obtain will only differ by a minus sign. Just take the modulus of the answer either way.