MATHMAINE <

HTTPS,//MATHMAINE.COM/>
Understanding math topics without memorization

Sigma and Pi Notation -Summation and

Product Notation)

Sigma 'Summation) Notation

The Sigma symbol, , is a capital letter in the Greek alphabet. It corresponds to “S”
in our alphabet, and is used in mathematics to describe “summation”, the addition or
sum of a bunch of terms (think of the starting sound of the word “sum”: Sssigma =
Sssum).

The Sigma symbol can be used all by itself to represent a generic sum… the general
idea of a sum, of an unspeci!ed number of unspeci!ed terms:
But this is not something that can be evaluated to produce a speci!c answer, as we
have not been told how many terms to include in the sum, nor have we been told how
to determine the value of each term.

A more typical use of Sigma notation will include an integer below the Sigma (the
“starting term number”), and an integer above the Sigma (the “ending term number”).
In the example below, the exact starting and ending numbers don’t matter much since
we are being asked to add the same value, two, repeatedly. All that matters in this case
is the di"erence between the starting and ending term numbers… that will determine
how many twos we are being asked to add, one two for each term number.

Sigma notation, or as it is also called, summation notation is not usually worth the
extra ink to describe simple sums such as the one above… multiplication could do that
more simply.

Sigma notation is most useful when the “term number” can be used in some way to
calculate each term. To facilitate this, a variable is usually listed below the Sigma with
an equal sign between it and the starting term number. If this variable appears in the
expression being summed, then the current term number should be substituted for
the variable:
Note that it is possible to have a variable below the Sigma, but never use it. In such
cases, just as in the example that resulted in a bunch of twos above, the term being
added never changes:

The “starting term number” need not be 1. It can be any value, including 0. For
example:

That covers what you need to know to begin working with Sigma notation. However,
since Sigma notation will usually have more complex expressions a!er the Sigma
symbol, here are some further examples to give you a sense of what is possible:
:
Note that the last example above illustrates that, using the commutative property of
addition, a sum of multiple terms can be broken up into multiple sums:

And lastly, this notation can be nested:

:
The rightmost sigma (similar to the innermost function when working with composed
functions < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/function-notation/> )
above should be evaluated "rst. Once that has been evaluated, you can evaluate the
next sigma to the le!. Parentheses can also be used to make the order of evaluation
clear.

Pi 'Product) Notation

The Pi symbol, , is a capital letter in the Greek alphabet call “Pi”, and corresponds
to “P” in our alphabet. It is used in mathematics to represent the product of a bunch of
terms (think of the starting sound of the word “product”: Pppi = Ppproduct). It is used
in the same way as the Sigma symbol described above, except that succeeding terms
are multiplied instead of added:
:
Summary

Sigma (summation) and Pi (product) notation are used in mathematics to indicate

repeated addition or multiplication. Sigma notation provides a compact way to
represent many sums, and is used extensively when working with Arithmetic <
https://mathmaine.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/summary-arithmetic-sequences-
and-series/> or Geometric <
https://mathmaine.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/summary-geometric-sequences-
and-series/> Series. Pi notation provides a compact way to represent many products.

To make use of them you will need a “closed form” expression (one that allows you to
describe each term’s value using the term number) that describes all terms in the sum
or product ( just as you o!en do when working with sequences and series). Sigma and
Pi notation save much paper and ink, as do other math notations, and allow fairly
complex ideas to be described in a relatively compact notation.
:
 By Whit Ford
Math tutor since 1992. Former math teacher, product manager, so!ware developer,
research analyst, etc.

View all of Whit Ford's posts. < https://mathmaine.com/author/mathmaine/>

66 comments

Douglas maindo
February 3, 2012 at 7:46 am

am very thankful 2 the information above.it is very helpful to me

Justin < http://justinwilcott.com>

February 17, 2012 at 3:49 pm

I always see these equations on in technical papers but I never knew how to decode
them. This was so helpful! It’s basically a for loop in scripting, makes so much sense.
Also your blog is awesome, thank you for sharing!

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

February 17, 2012 at 4:25 pm

Thank you! And yes, a little programming experience with loops makes Sigma and Pi
:
Notation much easier to understand…

Sundaram
September 3, 2012 at 8:23 am

Very very useful. Thanks a lot – Sundaram

Anonymous
November 10, 2012 at 9:18 am

Thank you, this was very helpful. I was "nding how to use Sigma notation, and "nally
found such a good one.

Samama Fahim
July 11, 2013 at 7:20 am

Indeed a very lucid exposition of Sigma and Pi notations! Thanks

gaeta2 < http://gravatar.com/gaeta2>

August 26, 2013 at 6:41 pm

Very useful post. But what if the Pi notation is not in closed form, such as

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

:
 August 26, 2013 at 9:33 pm

If the index limit above the Pi symbol is a variable, as in the example you gave:

then there are an indeterminate number of factors in the product until such time as
“n” is speci"ed.

I suppose a problem could be posed this way if you are being asked to come up with
an expression for such a product that does not involve Pi notation: is there some
closed form expression involving “n” that represents this product?

So, if n=3, then

and if n=4, then

and if you leave the "nal index as “n” becomes:

Is there some closed form expression that represents this product?

Stephen Kazoullis
April 26, 2015 at 8:00 am

Shouldn’t the k be squared ?

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

:
 May 9, 2015 at 5:55 pm

Which “k” are you referring to? There are several in the posting… Ooops – I just
realized you were asking about my reply to the comment. You are correct. I will
modify my response shortly.

Jason Z Okoro
March 3, 2019 at 10:43 pm

Actually n SHOULD be squared in his reply since he’s saying that that’s the LAST TERM
in the product. Basically this is where k = n. It’s important to emphasize that.

Naga Pavan Reddy < https://www.facebook.com/pavanbunty>

May 14, 2014 at 6:23 am

what is the relation between the two when they are logarithmic di#erentiated?

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

May 14, 2014 at 7:46 am

It would help if you could provide an example of what you are asking about.

If you need to di#erentiate a sum, I would not expect logarithmic di#erentiation to be

very useful, as the laws of logarithms <
https://mathmaine.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/summary-logarithms/> do not allow
us to do anything with something like

Di#erentiating this would turn the right side into the reciprocal of the original sum
:
times its derivative = a mess.

However, if you need to di#erentiate a product, logarithmic di#erentiation could make

life simpler by converting a long succession of product rule applications into a sum of
logs. Since

we can rewrite the log of a product as a sum of logs:

which, in many cases, could simplify the di#erentiation process.

Imad Ahmad
May 17, 2014 at 9:21 pm

If sigma is for summation, and pi is for multiplication, are there any notations for
division and subtraction? Just out of curiosity?

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

May 18, 2014 at 12:52 am

Good question!

Subtraction can be rewritten as the addition of a negative. So Sigma notation describes

repeated subtraction when its argument is a negative quantity.

Division can be rewritten as multiplication by the reciprocal. So Pi notation describes

repeated division when its argument has a denominator other than 1.

Therefore, additional notations are not needed to describe repeated subtraction or

:
division… Which is quite convenient.

john walter
July 31, 2014 at 4:10 am

Sir, how about expressing thing one 1x2x3 + 2x3x4 + 3x4x5 + ….will it be a combination
of
sigma and pi? If you can illustrate it please.

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

July 31, 2014 at 7:26 am

You are correct – this can be represented using a combination of Sigma and Pi
notation:

In the above notation, i is the index variable for the Sum, and provides the starting
number for each product. By having the Product index variable start at zero, the
expression to generate each value is a bit simpler. If j went from one to three each
time, the expression on the right would have to be (i + j – 1).

gargi
July 10, 2015 at 12:38 pm

hello sir,
thank you for the amazing and very helpful post.
I was just practicing the question wanted to know can 30….. n(n+1)(n+2) be the ans to
:
the above sigma and product equation given by you.
hope to receive your reply as soon as possible.

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

July 10, 2015 at 1:05 pm

Gargi,
The Sigma and Pi expression I used to answer the previous question did not have a
value speci"ed for “N”, so any value given for the expression will have to be in terms of
“N”… as your question is. However, your expression leaves me uncertain as to whether
you are analyzing the situation correctly or not.

Let’s list the "rst few terms of this sequence individually to get a sense of how this
series behaves:

So, the sum of the "rst two terms would indeed be 30. But if you are trying to give a
general answer, you should show each term individually so that the person reading
your answer can see any pattern that is developing, and understand how to "ll in the
“…” used to represent all the terms that are not shown.

Yucel
September 28, 2018 at 3:26 pm

Hi Mr. Ford,
any hint for the solution of following in"nite series will appretiated.
Thanks…
:
 Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>
September 29, 2018 at 6:41 am

Yucel,

Evaluating the "rst few terms, just to get a sense of its behavior, produces the
following (a!er converting all fractions to have a common denominator so that they
are easier to compare quickly:

i=0: (14/12)
i=1: (14/12)(8/12)
i=2: (14/12)(8/12)(6/12)
i=3: (14/12)(8/12)(6/12)(5/12)

It seems that successive terms are growing smaller, since each is the previous term
multiplied by a factor that is less than 1 and shrinking, so the series will converge (it
shrinks faster than a geometric sequence with a common ratio that is less than one).
But to what value?

I don’t know what context this problem arises in for you, and therefore what tools you
are expected to use to analyze the problem (assuming it is a problem from a class).
Plus I have not worked with in"nite series in a while – o# the top of my head, I might
try to “squeeze” this between two series for which I know the sum, to at least provide
upper and lower bounds for the sum. An upper bound would be provided by an
in"nite geometric sequence, but I am uncertain what might best provide a lower
bound.

Does that help?

Anonymous
November 17, 2014 at 11:43 pm
:
what can be the correct answer this equation?

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

November 18, 2014 at 8:05 am

The example was an expression, not an equation, therefore it cannot be “solved”.

However, this particular example can be “simpli"ed” by collecting like terms to
become

which would raise the question: “why write it using Sigma Notation when you could
just as easily write ?”. My answer to that would be: I probably would not use
Sigma Notation to write such a simple expression. This example was intended show
how to interpret Sigma Notation in some of the many ways that it can be used.

M N Patel
June 4, 2020 at 11:34 am

We can also write as …

∑(n=0)^3▒〖n+∑(n=0)^3▒x〗
:
 Share

67,211

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

June 4, 2020 at 12:06 pm

Good suggestion – it makes more sense to keep the expression the same as the
previous example! I have modi"ed the post.

Jonty
April 21, 2015 at 12:55 pm

I have a student asking whether there is a symbol for exponentiation of a sequence? So

there’s SIGMA for summation of a sequence, PI for multiplication of a sequence and
perhaps something else for exponentiation of a sequence?

So like E(x+n) for n=1 to 3 would produce (x+1)^(x+2)^(x+3)… Or

maybe((x+1)^(x+2))^(x+3)

Thanks,
:
Jonty

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

April 21, 2015 at 2:32 pm

Jonty,

Good question! I am not aware of such notation, and furthermore, I am not aware of
situations where such notation would be needed. Do you know of situations that
require repeating exponentiation to model them? I suppose that some multi-
dimensional models (perhaps like String Theory) could require some repeated
exponentiation, but even there I doubt they would need to get beyond several levels of
exponentiation (the result would grow really fast…).

I’ll research this a bit to see if I can "nd anything, and if I do I’ll post another reply.

Jonty
April 21, 2015 at 4:09 pm

Thanks Whit. The student in question is actually only 11 years old and somehow I
don’t think that he will accept the “not needed” reason! I’ll challenge him to "nd a
need for it and maybe he can create his own notation. He said it had something to do
with his investigation into combination formulae… He’s currently using a backwards
SIGMA symbol!

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

April 21, 2015 at 5:19 pm

Jonty,
:
One other thought… if

and therefore

etc…
then there is no need for a notation to represent repeated exponentiation, since
exponents that are products already represent repeated exponentiation. Using Pi
notation in the exponent achieves the desired purpose.

Jonty
April 22, 2015 at 1:02 pm

Good point, however, x^a^b is not the same as x^ab. For repeated exponentiation I
would assume that form rather than (x^a)^b. So maybe we do still need something?

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

April 22, 2015 at 1:20 pm

Ooops – didn’t think of

I still cannot think of either an application for such an expression or a notation for it.
Perhaps this is a good question for a forum like
http://math.stackexchange.com/questions <
http://math.stackexchange.com/questions>

Jeremy
October 23, 2015 at 12:19 am
:
If the sum of a bunch of terms in known as a “summation of a series”, then what is the
product of a bunch of terms known as in mathematics?

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

October 23, 2015 at 7:24 am

The exact vocabulary used is likely to di#er from one person to another, and I doubt
that everyone will care that much about the words used, but I will be picky about the
words used in an e#ort to clarify the situation and answer your question.

A “sequence” is an ordered set of terms which are NOT added together. There is o!en
a pattern to them, a formula that can be used to determine the value of the next term
in the sequence. Sequence de"nitions usually have no need for summation notation.

A “series” is the sum of the "rst N terms of a sequence. Series de"nitions almost
always rely on summation notation.

The phrase you wrote, “summation of a series”, is either redundant (they could have
just said “a series”), or indicated that they wish to sum the "rst N terms of a series (the
sum of terms, each which is a sum, something that might have a use, but I have not
seen used).

A polynomial (such as a quadratic) can be called “a sum of terms”.

And "nally to your question. A “product” is the result of multiplying two or more
“factors”. The entire product is a single “term”.

So when using pi notation, the expression a!er the pi describes each “factor” (not
“term”), and the "nal result a!er the pi notation has been evaluated is a “product”. No
new vocabulary is needed.

Nikson
:
 October 29, 2015 at 11:56 am

Does Multiplication operator always increment? does work?

i.e. can there be a bigger value at the base and smaller value at top of the PI operator? I
want to do that to signify that the matrices do not commute.

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

October 29, 2015 at 1:03 pm

Interesting question! Notation is a convention, a commonly shared interpretation of

some symbols. So, even if it is not commonly used in a particular way, there is no
strong reason I can think of why you couldn’t use it that way (if necessary, including a
note or example describing how you intend the notation to be interpreted).

Loops in programming languages can be written to decrease the index each time just
as easily as they can increase it. The convention is to increase it, just like with Sigma
and Pi notation, but they also support decreasing indeces.

So, my opinion would be: sure! Why not? If I were to see an upper index value that is
smaller than the lower one, my "rst assumption would be that I would need to
decrease the index by 1 for each iteration – which seems to be what you intend.

I do not follow your thinking though when you say you wish to use a descending index
value to indicate that matrices do not commute… I would not perceive a descending
index value, or an ascending one, to indicate anything about the commutative
property’s applicability to the resulting expression. A!er expanding the Pi notation
into the full expression that it represents, the person working with that expression
must follow the rules of algebra (or matrix algebra), and the index number of each
factor would not have any e#ect on such rules. But, perhaps I do not understand the
situation you seek to describe.
:
 Shri Krishan Baghel
November 22, 2015 at 1:39 am

I like it … And I hope it will help other students too to acheive their goals …

Appiah Godfred
September 16, 2017 at 3:49 am

How can u write this using summation notation: 3 -5+7 -9+11-13+15?

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

September 16, 2017 at 6:20 am

Appiah,

I notice three things when I look at this sequence:

1) The values alternate sign, so we need a factor that changes sign for each value of
“n”. (-1)^n will change sign every time “n” grows by one, but when n=1 it is negative –
which is the wrong sign for the "rst time. Adding or subtracting 1 from “n” will make
the factor positive when n=1 (since a negative raised to the zero, or an even, power is
positive). So will provide the correct sign for the nth term.

2) The values grow in magnitude linearly by 2 each time. A factor of (2n) will produce
such numbers, but when n=1 this will have a value of 2, not 3… so I need to add 1 to
each value: .

3) There are seven terms, so n will need a starting value of 1, and an ending value of 7.

Putting the three thoughts above together, I get:

:
 [email protected]
September 24, 2017 at 2:51 pm

What if I want to write the sequence:

using Sigma or Pi notation, or possibly both. Furthermore is there a way of

simplifying the notation and "nding a result that is a function of n?

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

September 24, 2017 at 3:23 pm

If I have interpreted the expression you show correctly, it is neither an arithmetic nor
a geometric sequence. Futhermore, it appears to me as though it will always have an
in"nite number of sub-expressions that need to be evaluated, regardless of the value
of “n”.

It is not
– a sum of consistent terms (the third term contains all the of the remaining “terms”)
– a product of consistent factors (the "rst two terms are not multiplied by what
follows)
so I do not see a way of representing it using either Sigma or Pi notation.

You may be able to simplify this expression by expanding the values a bit to see if
there is a pattern, but the result will probably vary a great deal depending on the value
of “n”. For example, if n=1, then the expression would be:
:
it would appear as though the quantity in parentheses is becoming increasingly
negative (a sum of growing negative numbers), and therefore the value probably goes
to negative in"nity.

If n=2, then

once again it would appear as though the quantity in parentheses is going to become
increasingly negative (a sum of growing negative numbers), and therefore the value
propably goes to negative in"nity again, even though it starts out a bit larger.

As n grows, the constant power of 2 in the expression will dominate the initial results
a lot more, but the in"nite number of subtractions from it will eventually catch up to
its value, no matter how large it is.

ygautomo < http://ygautomo.wordpress.com>

January 20, 2018 at 4:37 am

Thanks for your clear explanations. It helps me to understands the notation means
and how to use it.

Alin Stanciu < https://plus.google.com/102444130839717753305>

January 25, 2018 at 6:09 am

Hello,

How would I derive the polynomial for the following expression:

n = 112
expression is
:
multiply until n reaches 143 (i.e. n=112, n=113 etc.)

I’m interested in simplifying the polynomial to 32 terms and determine the exponents
of y

Thank you.

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

January 26, 2018 at 8:20 am

Alin,

Using Pi notation, I interpret your question to be

Using a binomial expansion, the terms will be

for i = 0 to 32. Terms with odd values of i will be negative.

The coe$cients will be “32 Choose i”, or

Does that help?

Brad
January 25, 2018 at 5:13 pm

Hello, I am trying to utilize the Pi notation to represent a repeating multiplication, but

:
one that rounds up to the nearest whole a!er each time there is a multiplication(or
division). Before I continue please forgive my mathematical illiteracy, I am taking an
amateur interest in this.

What I am wondering about is this. If I wanted to take, let’s say “I”, and multiply “I” by
a repeating multiple, let’s say “1/(1-r)”.
I might write it as: I×(1÷(1-r))×(1÷(1-r))×(1÷(1-r))… or I÷(1-r)÷(1-r)÷(1-r)…
Reading this post it seems like this would be easy to use the big Pi Π notation.
Ex: I × Π(1÷(1-r))….. something like that.

If I wanted to represent something being rounded up I think I could use ceiling

function brackets: ⌈⌉. So for instance, if I wanted to round the above to the nearest
whole a!er each division (or multiplication) step I think I could write: ⌈⌈⌈I÷(1-r)⌉÷(1-
r)⌉÷(1-r)⌉…. In my mind, this rounds up each time the value is divided by (1-r). I
simply cannot "gure out how to represent that using big Pi Π.

I hope that makes some sense.

Any insights would be very appreciate.

Thanks,
Brad

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

January 26, 2018 at 8:29 am

Brad,

The notation that follows a capital Pi describes only the term that is to be multiplied.
The di$culty you describe is that you wish to specify what happens to the result of
that product, and capital Pi notation does not provide any means to do that.

Two ways to resolve the problem come to mind:

:
1) your expansion of the problem using square brackets
2) using a programming language to describe a loop in which each product is then
rounded, before repeating the loop until the speci"ed number of multiplications have
been carried out.

Anonymous
January 31, 2018 at 5:21 am

Hello,
Sir,If I have equation like this :
X1=(1-P1)(1-P2)P3+(1-P2)(1-P3)P1+(1-P3)(1-P1)P2
X2=(1-P1)P2.P3+(1-P2)P2P3+(1-P3)P2P3
X3=P1.P2.P3
For example, X1 means we have One term say P3 and rest two are (1-P) and
summation of such product terms for 3 values(P1,P2 and P3).
How should I proceed if I want to get it for n instead of 3.
Equation for Xn in terms of P1,P2,……Pn.

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

February 6, 2018 at 10:02 am

Summation notation does not provide an easy way that I can think of to do what you
describe. While it can add a bunch of terms very nicely, the challenge is describing
each of the terms you show as a function of the term number. This would be easy to do
in a computer program, but not so much using summation notation.

Dharmendra paswan
February 11, 2018 at 3:07 am
:
limit,n–>in"nity {tan(p/2n)tan(2p/2n)tan(3p/2n)……}^(1/n) . "nd the value where p=pi.
option (a) 1 (b) 2-log2 (c) 3 (d) 3 -log4. please reply in my email (
[email protected]). thanks

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

February 11, 2018 at 3:29 pm

Dharmendra,

This problem is not strictly a Pi Notation problem, as it involves a limit and a power
outside of any Pi Notation.

Also, I am not certain where the product you describe is supposed to end. If it ends
with, or continues beyond tan(np/2n), which will always be unde"ned, then my "rst
impression is that there would be no limit to the product. However, I have never
worked with in"nite products. Your answer options suggest that there is some
expansion of a a logarithm that results in an in"nite product of tangent functions,
however I am not familiar with that.

Sorry!

Mr. Unknown
March 15, 2018 at 12:11 pm

How to "nd the derivative of the pi notation

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

March 15, 2018 at 2:39 pm
:
If each factor described by the pi notation contains an instance of a the variable, you
would need to use the product rule… potentially many times. However, if each factor
does not contain the variable (or a function of the variable) that you are di#erentiating
with respect to, then the whole product would be a constant. So, depending on the
number of factors in the product, it could be a very long process, or a very short one.

KANHAI KUMAR
January 3, 2020 at 4:33 am

Best explanation sir.

Ann Yaa Safo < http://didijustsaythat234712961.wordpress.com>

June 29, 2020 at 3:32 pm

I have a question, please.

Is there a way to rewrite the following expression using both sigma and pi?
Ln =4 (1+ 1/3 + 8/9 + (8^2) / (3^3) +…+ (8^(n-1)) / (3^n))

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

June 29, 2020 at 3:42 pm

I think this would do it. Pi is not needed:

Ann Yaa Safo < http://didijustsaythat234712961.wordpress.com>

June 30, 2020 at 7:18 pm
:
Thank you. The post was tremendously helpful

Reuben Sulu < http://www.!a.int>

September 8, 2020 at 12:02 am

Sir, this is a very helpful website. Excellent blog and makes maths symbols and
operations simple to understand. Had always skipped these symbols in technical
papers and today is the "rst time i get to understand what they mean. Now i will not
skip them anymore when i come across them in papers. I will always be checking this
site.

JL
September 18, 2020 at 3:35 am

Thank you greatly for this blog! Appreciate the details as I struggle with math, so to
see a full text explanation and all the examples really helps me to understand.

Pingback: Why are we having factorial sign when there is already the ΠPi
notation in use? 7 Math Solution < https://mathzsolution.com/why-are-we-
having-factorial-sign-when-there-is-already-the-%cf%80pi-notation-in-
use/>

Lisa
April 18, 2022 at 9:21 am

What is a capital S notation?

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

:
 April 18, 2022 at 9:45 am

I am not familiar with capital S notation. Can you provide me with a link to an
example where it is being used?

Lisa
April 18, 2022 at 2:28 pm

Try this. If it doesn’t work, I can email you a screenshot that somebody sent me on
facebook.

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

April 18, 2022 at 2:34 pm

It looks like that is an integral sign (calculus), given the “dx” at the end of the
expression.

Lisa
April 18, 2022 at 2:58 pm

You’re right. I didn’t see it at "rst. Should there be brackets around the expression? It
looks like the dx applies only to the numerator.

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

April 18, 2022 at 3:04 pm
:
No brackets needed for that expression, given that the numerator is in parentheses.
Or, the dx can be written just to the right of the fraction line (be sure to leave a little
space…) and that will have the same e#ect as putting brackets around the whole
fraction.

Lisa
April 18, 2022 at 3:23 pm

Thanks for taking the time to chat with this retired math teacher who hasn’t seen calc
since I walked out of my last "nal college exam.

I plugged it into this generator and it produced – 2.98 approximately. Doesn’t seem
correct considering it’s supposed to be a 4 digit pin number.

https://www.integral-calculator.com/ < https://www.integral-calculator.com/>

Whit Ford < https://mathmaine.wordpress.com>

April 18, 2022 at 4:10 pm

My TI-84 calculator has a numerical integration result of -2.582086699. My techniques

of integration are a bit rusty, but I could not see a way to integrate it by hand using u-
substitution. It factors into (x-1)(3x^2+2x+4) / sqrt[(x-1)(x-2)] but that does not seem to
help much either. So I let my calculator do the work.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed <
https://akismet.com/privacy/> .
:
MATHMAINE 2 HTTPS,//MATHMAINE.COM/>
Blog at WordPress.com. < https://wordpress.com/?ref=footer_blog>
: