Second fundamental theorem of calculus.

operationsres
Messages
99
Reaction score
0
Let f(x) be a non-stochastic mapping f: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}. The second fundamental theorem of calculus states that:

\frac{d}{dx} \int_a^x f(s)ds = f(x).
*QUESTION 1* Is the following true?

\frac{d}{dx} \int_x^a f(s)ds = f(x).

*QUESTION 2* Related to this, how can I evaluate/simplify/express:

d\int_x^a f(s)ds.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
For the first question, what happens to the integral when you reverse the bounds on integration? This should tell you that your answer is not quite correct, modulo only a sign error.

The next answer depends on your context and there are a few ways to do this. The first is to simply use the definition of the exterior derivative. Assuming you are just working on \mathbb R you have that for any function (0-form) F, then in a coordinate chart you have
dF = \frac{\partial F}{\partial x} dx.
Alternatively, if you let \gamma: [0,1] \to \mathbb R be a smooth path such that \gamma(0) = a, \gamma'(0) = v then
d_a F(v) = \left. \frac{d}{dt} \right|_{t=0} (F \circ \gamma).
Both will give you the same solution, the the latter is coordinate independent.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Kreizhn said:
For the first question, what happens to the integral when you reverse the bounds on integration? This should tell you that your answer is not quite correct, modulo only a sign error.

The next answer depends on your context and there are a few ways to do this. The first is to simply use the definition of the exterior derivative. Assuming you are just working on \mathbb R you have that for any function (0-form) F, then in a coordinate chart you have
dF = \frac{\partial F}{\partial x} dx.
Alternatively, if you let \gamma: [0,1] \to \mathbb R be a smooth path such that \gamma(0) = a, \gamma'(0) = v then
d_a F(v) = \left. \frac d{dt} \right|_{t=0} (F\circ \gamma).
Both will give you the same solution, the the latter is coordinate independent.

Hi,

I'm not sure what "modulo" means?

It would make sense if the solution to QUESTION1 is actually -f(x), is that what you were saying?
 
"modulo a sign error" meant "correct except possibly a sign error".

Yes, \int_x^a f(t)dt= -\int_a^x f(t)dt and then apply the fundamental theorem.
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
Back
Top