Riemann Sum Example Problem

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Riemann Sums and Area

The curve in red in the pictures below is the graph
of y = x2 + 1.
The goal is to approximate and then compute
exactly the area between the x-axis and the graph
of y = x2 + 1 with x between 0 and 2. The region
being described is shown at the right in red.
Initially I will use four approximating rectangles.
As demonstrated in class, I will do it three times. I
will first use a left approximation, then a right
approximation, and then a midpoint
approximation.

Left

Right

In the picture above the width of each rectangle will

be 1/2 and the length (height) will be the value of the
function evaluated at the left end of the subinterval
corresponding to that rectangle. In this case the area
of the region will be approximated by

In the picture above the width of each rectangle will

be 1/2 and the length (height) will be the value of the
function evaluated at the right end of the subinterval
corresponding to that rectangle. In this case the area
of the region will be approximated by

The left approach would give a low estimate and the right approach would give a high estimate.

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Riemann Sum Example Problem

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http://www2.seminolestate.edu/lvosbury/CalculusI_Folder/RiemannSum...

A pretty good estimate could be computed by taking the average of the left and right approximations.

A good estimate of the area of the region would

Midpoint
appear to be the area approximation derived from
the midpoint approach taken on the right. At least
this "looks" pretty accurate with the "top" of each
approximating rectangle partially above and
partially below the red graph of the function f(x) =
x2 + 1.

In the picture above the width of each rectangle will

be 1/2 and the length (height) will be the value of the
function evaluated at the midpoint of the subinterval
corresponding to that rectangle. In this case the area
of the region will be approximated by

Let's try using more approximating rectangles and focus first on the right approximation.

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Riemann Sum Example Problem

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Quicktime Animation: right Riemann sum

At this point we can certainly conclude that the area of the region cannot be more than the limit
computed above.
It also cannot be less than than a limit we could compute relating to a left approximation method. Let's
see what that would be.

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Quicktime Animation: left Riemann sum

Just for fun let's look further at the midpoint method.

Quicktime Animation: midpoint Riemann sum

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Riemann Sum Example Problem

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What if we do not have a summation formula that applies? For example, how could we approximate the
area under the graph of y = sin(x) and above the x-axis with x between 0 and pi.

We will soon discover that the exact area of the region is 2 square units. Using the summation feature of
a TI-89 and n = 1000 yields 1.99999835507. In the picture above on the right n = 10 and the area
approximation is 1.983523538 using a TI-89 or Maple. The approximation for n = 2000 is 1.99999958876

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Riemann Sum Example Problem

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(TI-89). The accuracy of these "right" approximations is increased by the fact that the function is
increasing over the first half of the interval and decreasing over the second half of the interval. Thus
some of the approximating rectangles are too large and some are too small and the errors tend to balance
themselves. Quicktime animation using the midpoint method.
One More Example--Again Using a TI to Approximate the Sum. The approximated area for n = 10 is
16.26332364.

Here is a Maple worksheet for computing the sum above.

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Lane Vosbury, Math Chair, Seminole Community College email: vosburyl@seminolestate.edu
This page was last updated on 10/08/08

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