Integral Poem
Rhea Lieber ('18)
The Oversized “S”
At first I didn’t get you
I have to reverse my thought process?
Find the what?
The anti-derivative?
Represented by a what?
Represented by this swirly symbol
Curved like an oversized S
And it has a hidden meaning too!
A disguised sum
Representing not some
but all
dx: add those infinite widths up.
Because really what it comes down to
is a little thing called area
Not area like L x W
Or ½ B x H
Area formulas forever engraved in our memories
No, an integral is different
It represents the area
under a graph
Sometimes indefinite
Sometimes definite
From some x-values a to b
And don’t forget the + c!
Dear integrals, at first you were difficult
Furrowed brow, pursed lips
Undoing the power rule
Undoing the chain rule
Undoing everything – I felt like a fool
But thanks to Ms. Stutt
and her persistent practice
The curvy, oversized S no longer troubles me
So now here I am
Able to find the integral of
2x³ in my head
Which is obviously ½x⁴
I guess it’s time to move on to
more complicated problems...
“Let f(x) = 2x³ + 6. Find the volume of a solid from [1,5] whose cross-sections are equilateral triangles perpendicular to the x-axis.”
At first I didn’t get you
I have to reverse my thought process?
Find the what?
The anti-derivative?
Represented by a what?
Represented by this swirly symbol
Curved like an oversized S
And it has a hidden meaning too!
A disguised sum
Representing not some
but all
dx: add those infinite widths up.
Because really what it comes down to
is a little thing called area
Not area like L x W
Or ½ B x H
Area formulas forever engraved in our memories
No, an integral is different
It represents the area
under a graph
Sometimes indefinite
Sometimes definite
From some x-values a to b
And don’t forget the + c!
Dear integrals, at first you were difficult
Furrowed brow, pursed lips
Undoing the power rule
Undoing the chain rule
Undoing everything – I felt like a fool
But thanks to Ms. Stutt
and her persistent practice
The curvy, oversized S no longer troubles me
So now here I am
Able to find the integral of
2x³ in my head
Which is obviously ½x⁴
I guess it’s time to move on to
more complicated problems...
“Let f(x) = 2x³ + 6. Find the volume of a solid from [1,5] whose cross-sections are equilateral triangles perpendicular to the x-axis.”
