If the area of the region is , then is equal to
- A
- B
- C
- D
If the area of the region is , then is equal to
Correct answer:A
Standard Method
Given: The region is .
Find: The value of , where is the area of the region.
The upper curve is and the lower curve is . First find their points of intersection by solving
Let with . Then the two cases are:
for , and
for .
From
we get
so , hence .
From
we get
so , hence .
Therefore, the region exists for . Since changes form at , split the area into two parts:
Now evaluate:
So,
This gives
Hence,
Therefore, the correct option is A.
Why the first approach is incorrect
Given: The same region .
Find: A reliable value of .
A displayed solution on the page computes
which subtracts only the left branch of and ignores the contribution of the lower curve on .
Since
the area must be split at . Without this split, the computed area is incorrect.
Using the correct split integral,
so the final result is
This matches option A and also the listed correct answer on the page.
Using as only over the entire interval is incorrect because the absolute value changes form at . Split the integral into and .
Finding the intersection points without substituting can lead to invalid roots from . Use with to keep the algebra consistent.
Subtracting the whole lower curve in one step as if it were a single expression gives the wrong area. The lower boundary is piecewise, so compute area piecewise as well.
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