Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

MAT syllabus
Derivative of xa , including for fractional exponents. Derivative of ekx . Derivative of a sum of
functions. Tangents and normals to graphs. Turning points. Second order derivatives. Max-
ima and minima. Increasing and decreasing functions. Differentiation from first principles.
Indefinite integration as the reverse of differentiation. Definite integrals and the signed areas
they represent. Integration of xa (where a ̸= −1) and sums thereof.

Revision
• The derivative of xa is axa−1 , including for fractional exponents like a = 12 .

• If k is a constant then the derivative of ekx is kekx .

• If a is a constant then the derivative of af (x) is a times the derivative of f (x).

• The derivative of y1 + y2 is (the derivative of y1 )+(the derivative of y2 ). Perhaps this

looks too obvious to need stating, but remember that, for example, the square of y1 +y2
is not equal to (the square of y1 )+(the square of y2 ).

• The tangent to a graph at a particular point is a line which has the same value and

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

derivative as the graph at that point. So if we want the tangent to the graph y = x2
at x = 3, we need the value of y (which is 9), and the value of the derivative (which is
6). The derivative of a line is its gradient, so we can write y = 6x + c and solve for c
using the value at x = 3 to get y = 6x − 9.

• The normal to a graph is a line which has the same value and is at right angles to the
tangent. Two lines are at right angles if their gradients multiply to −1. So at the point
above, we would want y = − 61 x + c and, since the line goes through (3, 9), we have
c = 19
2
.

• If the derivative changes sign (+/−) at a point, that’s a turning point. You’ll have
zero derivative at the turning point, but that’s not actually sufficient for the derivative
to change sign (e.g. x3 has zero derivative at x = 0, but that’s not a turning point
because the derivative is positive on both sides). A point with zero derivative is called
a stationary point.

• The derivative of a derivative is called the second derivative. You can work out the
derivatives one at a time. So the second derivative of xa would be the derivative
of axa−1 , which is a(a − 1)xa−2 . The second derivative of ekx is k 2 ekx . The second
derivative is the rate of change of the derivative.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

• “Maxima” is the plural of “maximum”. “Minima” is the plural of “minimum”. A

turning point is a local maximum if the second derivative is negative at that point,
or it’s a local minimum if the second derivative is positive. The word ”local” here
means that very near to that point, the function takes its maximum value. Overall,
the function might have several local maxima, or none, and it might increase without
bound (like y = x for example) so just having derivative zero might not mean that
that’s biggest value of the function. Over an interval like [0, 1] the function might take
its maximum at a local maximum, or maybe at one of the endpoints (like how y = x
would take its maximum value at x = 1 over that interval).

• If the derivative is positive, that’s an increasing function. If it’s negative, that’s a

decreasing function. In general a function might increase in some regions and decrease
in other regions.

• If you have two points on a graph, you can join the line between them – that’s called
the chord. If you move the second point closer and closer to the first point, then the
gradient of the chord gets closer and closer to the gradient of the tangent, which is the
value of the derivative at that point. Calculating the gradient of the chord is a nice
−y1
and sensible thing to do; it’s just xy22 −x 1
, so this is called a “first principles” approach
to differentiation.

R
• Indefinite integration (without limits as in x2 dx) is the reverse of differentiation in
the sense that if the derivative of f (x) is g(x) then the indefinite integral of g(x) is
f (x) + c where c could be any constant. You can use this to integrate any function
which you could have got as the result of some differentiation.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

xn+1
• The integral of xn is n+1
, provided that n ̸= −1.

R2 Rb
• A definite integral (with limits as in 1 x2 dx) is written like a f (x) dx where a and b
are the two end-points. This is the difference in value of the indefinite integral at the
two end-points; F (b) − F (a) where the derivative of F (x) is f (x).

Rb
• If f (x) > 0 for a < x < b then a f (x) dx is the area of the region bounded by the
curve y = f (x), the x-axis, and the lines x = a and x = b.

Rb
• If f (x) < 0 for a < x < b then a f (x) dx is minus one times the area of the region
bounded by the curve y = f (x), the x-axis, and the lines x = a and x = b. Areas are
supposed to be positive. The integral here is sometimes called the “signed area” to
reflect the fact that it’s got a minus sign.

• If f (x) is sometimes positive and sometimes negative in a < x < b then we can split
into separate regions where f (x) is positive or negative before applying the above.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

Rb Ra
• a
f (x) dx = − b
f (x) dx

R∞
• a
f (x) dx means the limit of F (b) − F (a) for very large b (if this limit exists!). Formal
knowledge of limits is not expected.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

Warm-up
1. Differentiate x17 − x−17 with respect to x.

√ √
2. Differentiate 2 x + 3 3 x with respect to x.

3. Differentiate 1 − e3x with respect to x.

4. Find the tangent to the curve y = ex + x2 at x = 2.

5. Find the normal to the parabola y = x2 at x = 3.

6. Find the turning points of the curve y = x4 − 2x3 + x2 . Identify whether the turning
points are maxima or minima. For which values of x is y = x4 − 2x3 + x2 increasing?
For which values of x is it decreasing?

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

7. Two points A and B are on the curve y = x3 + x2 + x + 1. A is fixed at (1, 4). The
point B moves along the curve towards A. What happens to the line through A and
B?

8. Suppose that the

Z derivative of a polynomial p(x) with respect to x is q(x). Find an
expression for q(x) dx.

9. Find the area enclosed between the polynomial y = x2 + 4x + 3 and the x-axis.

Z 1
10. Find 1 + x + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 dx.
−1

Z π
11. Find x1729 dx.
−π

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

12. Find
√
Z Z Z Z
x+3 5
2 3
3
dx, 3
x dx, x dx, x2 + 1 dx
x3

13. By thinking about the area that the integral represents, explain why
Z 1 Z 1
f (x) dx = f (−x) dx.
−1 −1

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

MAT questions
MAT 2014 Q1C
The cubic
y = kx3 − (k + 1)x2 + (2 − k)x − k
has a turning point, that is a local minimum, when x = 1 precisely for
1
(a) k > 0, (b) 0 < k < 1, (c) k> , (d) k < 3, (e) all values of k.
2

Hint: we’ll need to check the second derivative.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

MAT 2017 Q1A

Let
f (x) = 2x3 − kx2 + 2x − k.
For what values of the real number k does the graph y = f (x) have two distinct real stationary
points?
√ √
(a) −2 3 < k < 2 3
√ √
(b) k < −2 3 or 2 3 < k
√ √
(c) k < − 21 − 3 or 21 − 3 < k
√ √
(d) − 21 − 3 < k < 21 − 3

(e) all values of k.

Hint: The derivative of f (x) is a quadratic. You know lots about quadratics!

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

MAT 2014 Q1J

For all real numbers x, the function f (x) satisfies
Z 1
2
6 + f (x) = 2f (−x) + 3x f (t) dt .
−1
R1
It follows that −1
f (x) dx equals
27
(a) 4, (b) 6, (c) 11, (d) , (e) 23.
2

R1 R1 R1
Hint: −1
f (x) dx is just a number, and it’s equal to −1
f (t) dt and equal to −1
f (−x) dx.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

MAT 2016 Q1H

Consider two functions

f (x) = a − x2
g(x) = x4 − a.

For precisely which values of a > 0 is the area of the region bounded by the x-axis and
the curve y = f (x) bigger than the area of the region bounded by the x-axis and the curve
y = g(x)?

6
(a) all values of a, (b) a > 1, (c) a > ,
32 4 5
4 6
(d) a > , (e) a > .
3 5

Hint: there are lots of words in this question, but the thing we need to do is quite standard!
First find the points where f = 0 and calculate that area in terms of a. Do the same for g.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

MAT 2017 Q3
For each positive integer k, let fk (x) = x1/k for x ⩾ 0.

(i) On the same axes, labelling each curve clearly, sketch y = fk (x) for k = 1, 2, 3 indicating
the intersection points.

(ii) Between the two points in (i), the curves y = fk (x) enclose several regions. What is the
area of the region between the graphs of y = fk (x) and y = fk+1 (x)? Verify that the
area of the region between f1 and f2 is 16 .

Let c be a constant where 0 < c < 1.

(iii) Find the x-coordinates of the points of intersection of the line y = c with y = f1 (x) and
of y = c with y = f2 (x).

(iv) The constant c is chosen so that the line y = c divides the region between y = f1 (x)
and y = f2 (x) into two regions of equal area. Show that c satisfies the cubic equation
4c3 − 6c2 + 1 = 0. Hence find c.

√
Hints: Draw a really large sketch. Most of the question is about f1 (x) = x and f2 (x) = x,
so if you
√ don’t like the notation f1 (x) and f2 (x), you can replace those everywhere with just
x and x.

For solutions see www.maths.ox.ac.uk/r/matlive

Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Integration & Differentiation

Extension
The following material is included for your interest only, and not for MAT preparation.
x
Here’s a sketch of y = f (x) for the function f (x) = .
1 + x2

0.4
0.2

−14 −12 −10 −8 −6 −4 −2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

−0.2
−0.4

This function decays to zero for very large positive x, or for very negative x, but the area
under the curve between x = 0 and x = b is unbounded for large b; the actual value is
Z b
x 1
2
dx = log(1 + b2 )
0 1+x 2
R∞
which gets really big for large b. So 0 f (x) dx doesn’t exist for this function.
R∞
What if we want −∞
f (x) dx instead?

Here’s the problem; there’sR ∞more than one

R ∞thing thatRmight mean!
0
One possible definition is −∞ f (x) dx = 0 f (x) dx+ −∞ f (x) dx, where the first integral
Rb R0
is the limit of 0 f (x) dx for large b and the second is the limit of −a f (x) dx for large a.
R∞ Rb
Another possible definition is −∞ f (x) dx is the limit of −b f (x) dx for large b.
R∞ R 2b
Another possible definition is −∞ f (x) dx is the limit of −b f (x) dx for large b.
And there are other possible definitions.
x
Sometimes it doesn’t matter which one you mean. But for f (x) = , the first inter-
1 + x2
pretation is problematic, because neither integral converges; there’s an infinitely large area
under the curve for positive x and an infinitely large negative contribution from negative x,
and we can’t work those out separately. The second interpretation does give a number; it’s
zero. The third one also gives a number, but it’s ln 2; a different answer!
1
In statistics, the probability distribution function is called the Cauchy distri-
π(1 + x2 )
bution. Its mean and variance are undefined. If you take random samples from the Cauchy
distribution, then they tend to be clustered around zero, but as you take more samples, the
sample mean doesn’t settle down to zero. Occasionally, but not very often, you get a large
number out of the Cauchy distribution, and that brings the sample mean away from zero.
That’s not what you might expect to happen!

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