Area Between Two Curves

Objective: To find the area between

two curves.

Riemann Sums
• Let’s review what a Riemann Sum is:

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 Area of a Region
Between Two Curves

Area Between Two Curves

• First Area Problem: Suppose that f and g are
continuous functions on an interval [a, b] and
f(x) > g(x) for a < x < b.
• This means that the curve y = f(x) lies above the
curve y = g(x) and that the two can touch but
never cross.
• Find the area A of the region bounded above by
y = f(x), below by y = g(x), and on the sides by the
lines x = a and x = b.

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 Area Between Two Curves
• To solve this problem, we divide the interval [a, b]
into n subintervals, which has the effect of
subdividing the region into n strips. If we assume that
the width of the kth strip is xk , then the area of the
strip can be approximated by the area of a rectangle
of width xk and height f ( xk* )  g ( xk* ) , where xk*
is a point in the kth subinterval.

Area Between Two Curves

• Adding these approximations yields the following
Riemann Sum that approximates the area A:
n
A   [ f ( xk* )  g ( xk* )]xk
k 1

3
 Area Between Two Curves
• Adding these approximations yields the following
Riemann Sum that approximates the area A:
n
A   [ f ( xk* )  g ( xk* )]xk
k 1

• Taking the limit as n increases and the widths of the

subintervals approach zero yields the following
definite integral for the area A between the curves:

n b
A  lim
max x 0
[ f ( xk* )  g ( xk* )]xk   [ f ( x)  g ( x)]dx
k 1 a

Area Between Two Curves

• Area Formula
• If f and g are continuous functions on the interval
[a, b], and if f(x) > g(x) for all x in [a, b], then the area
of the region bounded above by y = f(x) and below by
y = g(x), on the left by the line x = a, and on the right
by the line x = b is

b
A   [ f ( x)  g ( x)]dx
a

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 General Strategy for Area Between Curves:
1 Sketch the curves.
2 Decide on vertical or horizontal strips. (Pick
whichever is easier to write formulas for the
length of the strip, and/or whichever will let
you integrate fewer times.)
3 Write an expression for the area of the strip. (If
the width is dx, the length must be in terms of x.
If the width is dy, the length must be in terms of y.
4 Find the limits of integration. (If using dx, the
limits are x values; if using dy, the limits are y
values.)
5 Integrate to find area.

Example 1
• Find the area of the region bounded above by
y = x + 6, bounded below by y = x2, and bounded on
the sides by the lines x = 0 and x = 2.

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 Example 1
• Find the area of the region bounded above by
y = x + 6, bounded below by y = x2, and bounded on
the sides by the lines x = 0 and x = 2.

2
2
 x2 x3  34 34
A   [( x  6)  x ]dx    6 x   
2
0 
0 2 3 0 3 3

Example 2
• Find the area of the region that is enclosed between
the curves y = x2 and y = x + 6.

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 Example 2
• Find the area of the region that is enclosed between
the curves y = x2 and y = x + 6.
• Looking at the graph, we see
that y = x2 is the lower bound
and y = x + 6 is the upper bound.
We need to find the points of
intersection to find a and b. We
will do this with our calculator.

Example 2
• Find the area of the region that is enclosed between
the curves y = x2 and y = x + 6.
• Now, we integrate to find
the answer.

3
3
 x2 x3  27  22  125
A   [( x  6)  x ]dx    6 x   
2
  
2 2 3  2 2  3  6

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 Area
• In the case where both f and g are nonnegative on
the interval [a, b], the area A between the curves can
be obtained by subtracting the area under y = g(x)
from the area under y = f(x).

f f f
= -
g g g

Area of region = Area of region - Area of region

between f and g under f(x) under g(x)
b b b

  f (x)  g(x)dx   f ( x)dx   g ( x)dx

a a a


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 Ex. Find the area of the region bounded by the graphs
of f(x) = x2 + 2, g(x) = -x, x = 0, and x = 1 .

Area = Top curve – bottom curve

f(x) = x2 + 2 b
A   f (x)  g(x)dx 
a
1

g(x) = -x  (x 2
 2)  (x)dx 
0

  x 3 x 2 
1
1 1 17
   2 x     2 
3 2 0 3 2 6


Find the area of the region bounded by the graphs of

f(x) = 2 – x2 and g(x) = x

First, set f(x) = g(x) to

find their points of
intersection.
2 – x2 = x
0 = x2 + x - 2
0 = (x + 2)(x – 1)
x = -2 and x = 1
1

 2  x  x dx 
2
fnInt(2 – x2 – x, x, -2, 1) 
9
2
2

 9
 Example 4
• Find the area of the region enclosed by x = y2 and
y = x – 2.

Example 4
• Find the area of the region enclosed by x = y2 and
y = x – 2.
• The situation that makes this
problem different is that the
bottom curve is not the same
everywhere. We need to look
at this as two separate areas
and integrate twice.

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 Example 4
• Find the area of the region enclosed by x = y2 and
y = x – 2.
• The top curve is always
y  x , but the bottom curve
is y   x from 0-1, and it is
y = x – 2 from 1-4. The two
integrals will be:

1 4
A1   [ x  ( x )]dx A2   [ x  ( x  2)]dx
0 1

Example 4
• Find the area of the region enclosed by x = y2 and
y = x – 2.

1
4 3/ 2 
1
4
 [ x  ( x )]dx 
0
3
x  
0 3

4
4
2 3/ 2 x2  19
 [ x  ( x  2)]dx 
1
3
x   2 x 
2 1 6

4 19 9
A1  A2   
3 6 2

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 Example 5
• Find the area of the region enclosed by x = y2 and
y = x – 2, integrating with respect to y.
• This leads us to the integral:

 [( y  2)  y
2
]dy
1

2
y2 y3  9
 2y   
2 3  1 2

Under vs. Between

• When we found the area under a curve, we were only
dealing with one curve and it was possible to have
what we called “negative area”. Now, with the area
between two curves, we will always have two curves
and the area will always be positive.

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 Under vs. Between
• When we found the area under a curve, we were only
dealing with one curve and it was possible to have
what we called “negative area”. Now, with the area
between two curves, we will always have two curves
and the area will always be positive.
• Sometimes, the second curve will be the x or y-axis.
It may be the top curve or the bottom curve. For
some of these, we will need to use our knowledge of
piecewise functions to solve.

Example 6
• Find the area between the curves y  sin x and y = 0
from [0,2 ] .

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 Example 6
• Find the area between the curves y  sin x and y = 0
from [0,2 ] .
• From [0,  ] , the top curve is y = sinx and the bottom
curve is y = 0.
• From [ ,2 ] , the top curve is y = 0 and the bottom
curve is y = sinx.

Find the area of the region between the graphs of

f(x) = 3x3 – x2 – 10x and g(x) = -x2 + 2x

Again, set f(x) = g(x)

to find their points of
intersection.

3x3 – x2 – 10x = -x2 + 2x

3x3 – 12x = 0
3x(x2 – 4) = 0
x = 0 , -2 , 2
Note that the two graphs switch at the origin.

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 Now, set up the two integrals and solve.

0 2

  f (x)  g(x)dx   g(x) f (x)dx

2 0
0 2

 12x)dx 
(3x 3
 (3x 3
 12x)dx 
2 0

 24


x2

A   [(top curve)  (bottom curve)] dx

x1

y2

A   [(right curve)  (le f t curve)] dy

y1

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Find the area of the region bounded by the graphs
of x = 3 – y2 and y = x - 1

Area = Right - Left

1
A  (3  y 2
)  (y  1)dy
2

9

2


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