Integration is an operation that finds the **net** area under a curve, and is the opposite operation of differentiation. As such, it is also known as **anti-differentiation**.
The area under a curve between the interval of x-values $[a,b]$ is:
$$A=\lim_{x\to\infty}\sum^n_{i=1}f(x_i)\Delta x$$
which can be simplified to, where $dx$ indicates that integration should be performed with respect to $x$:
$$A=\int^b_a f(x)dx$$
While $\Sigma$ refers to a finite sum, $\int$ refers to the sum of a limit.
As integration is the opposite operation of differentiation, they can cancel each other out.
$$\frac{d}{dx}\int f(x)dx=f(x)$$
The **integral** or **anti-derivative** of a function is capitalised by convention. Where $C$ is an unknown constant:
$$\int f(x)dx=F(x)+C$$
When integrating, there is always an unknown constant $C$ as there are infinitely many possible functions that have the same rate of change but have different vertical translations.
!!! definition
- $C$ is known as the **constant of integration**.
- $f(x)$ is the **integrand**.
### Integration rules
$$
\begin{align*}
&\int 1dx &= &&x+C \\
&\int (ax^n)dx, n≠-1 &=&&\frac{a}{n+1}x^{n+1} + C \\
&\int (x^{-1})dx&=&&\ln|x|+C \\
&\int (ax+b)^{-1}dx&=&&\frac{\ln|ax+b|}{a}+C \\
&\int (ae^{kx})dx &= &&\frac{a}{k}e^{kx} + C \\
&\int (\sin kx)dx &= &&\frac{-\cos kx}{k}+C \\
&\int (\cos kx)dx &= &&\frac{\sin kx}{k}+C \\
\end{align*}
$$
Similar to differentiation, integration allows for constant multiples to be brought out and terms to be considered individually.
