Indefinite integral

This article/section deals with mathematical concepts appropriate for late high school or early college.

An indefinite integral, or antiderivative, is an integral without upper and lower limits.


Indefinite Integrals

There are an infinite number of antiderivatives for a given function, because each indefinite integral can have an arbitrary constant added to it which disappears upon differentiation. However, the fundamental theorem of calculus relates a definite integral to an indefinite integral by taking its value at the boundary points.

Whenever any expression is integrated the constant of integration,  , is always added.

A list of simple antiderivatives

The identity antiderivative:

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Polynomial and simple rational

To see the proofs for the first two integrals, see Riemann integral.

Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \int xdx = {1 \over 2} x^2 + C}
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \int x^2dx = {1 \over 3} x^3 + C}
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \int {1 \over {x^3}}dx = \int x^{-3}dx = {1 \over -3}x^{-2} + C = {-1 \over {3x^{-2}}} + C}
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \int x^{3.873}dx = {1 \over 4.873} x^{4.873} + C}

The general rule for polynomial expressions is:

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Note: Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle n \ne -1} . See below for when Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle n=-1}

Rational

For a more detailed treatment, see Partial fractions in integration.
Rational antiderivatives are much more difficult and follow different rules.

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Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \int {1 \over {x+1}}dx = \ln(x+1) + C}
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \int {1 \over {x+a}}dx = \ln(x+a) + C}

Trigonometric

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Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \int \cos(x)dx = \sin(x) + C}
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \int \tan(x)dx = \ln|\sec(x)| + C}

Exponential

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Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \int a^x = {a^x \over \ln(a)} + C}

See also