Fundamental theorem of calculus

The fundamental theorem of calculus is a theorem that links the concept of differentiating a function with the concept of integrating a function. The fundamental theorem of calculus is a theorem that links the concept of differentiating a function with the concept of integrating a function. The first part of the theorem, sometimes called the first fundamental theorem of calculus, states that one of the antiderivatives (also called indefinite integral), say F, of some function f may be obtained as the integral of f with a variable bound of integration. This implies the existence of antiderivatives for continuous functions. Conversely, the second part of the theorem, sometimes called the second fundamental theorem of calculus, states that the integral of a function f over some interval can be computed by using any one, say F, of its infinitely many antiderivatives. This part of the theorem has key practical applications, because explicitly finding the antiderivative of a function by symbolic integration avoids numerical integration to compute integrals. This provides generally a better numerical accuracy. The fundamental theorem of calculus relates differentiation and integration, showing that these two operations are essentially inverses of one another. Before the discovery of this theorem, it was not recognized that these two operations were related. Ancient Greek mathematicians knew how to compute area via infinitesimals, an operation that we would now call integration. The origins of differentiation likewise predate the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus by hundreds of years; for example, in the fourteenth century the notions of continuity of functions and motion were studied by the Oxford Calculators and other scholars. The historical relevance of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus is not the ability to calculate these operations, but the realization that the two seemingly distinct operations (calculation of geometric areas, and calculation of velocities) are actually closely related. The first published statement and proof of a rudimentary form of the fundamental theorem, strongly geometric in character, was by James Gregory (1638–1675). Isaac Barrow (1630–1677) proved a more generalized version of the theorem, while his student Isaac Newton (1642–1727) completed the development of the surrounding mathematical theory. Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716) systematized the knowledge into a calculus for infinitesimal quantities and introduced the notation used today. For a continuous function y = f(x) whose graph is plotted as a curve, each value of x has a corresponding area function A(x), representing the area beneath the curve between 0 and x. The function A(x) may not be known, but it is given that it represents the area under the curve. The area under the curve between x and x + h could be computed by finding the area between 0 and x + h, then subtracting the area between 0 and x. In other words, the area of this “strip” would be A(x + h) − A(x). There is another way to estimate the area of this same strip. As shown in the accompanying figure, h is multiplied by f(x) to find the area of a rectangle that is approximately the same size as this strip. So: