Summary of Double Integrals over General Regions

Essential Concepts

  • A general bounded region [latex]D[/latex] on the plane is a region that can be enclosed inside a rectangular region. We can use this idea to define a double integral over a general bounded region.
  • To evaluate an iterated integral of a function over a general nonrectangular region, we sketch the region and express it as a Type I or as a Type II region or as a union of several Type I or Type II regions that overlap only on their boundaries.
  • We can use double integrals to find volumes, areas, and average values of a function over general regions, similarly to calculations over rectangular regions.
  • We can use Fubini’s theorem for improper integrals to evaluate some types of improper integrals.

Key Equations

  • Iterated integral over a Type I region
    [latex]\displaystyle\iint_{D} f(x,y)dA=\displaystyle\iint_{D} f(x,y)dydx=\displaystyle\int_{a}^{b}\left[\displaystyle\int_{g_{1}(x)}^{g_{2}(x)}f(x,y)dy\right] dx[/latex]
  • Iterated integral over a Type II region
    [latex]\displaystyle\iint_{D} f(x,y)dA=\displaystyle\iint_{D} f(x,y)dydx=\displaystyle\int_{c}^{d}\left[\displaystyle\int_{h_{1}(y)}^{h_{2}(y)}f(x,y)dx\right] dy[/latex]

Glossary

improper double integral
a double integral over an unbounded region or of an unbounded function
Type I
a region [latex]\bf{D}[/latex] in the [latex]xy[/latex]-plane is Type I if it lies between two vertical lines and the graphs of two continuous functions [latex]g_{1}(x)[/latex] and [latex]g_{2}(x)[/latex]
Type II
a region [latex]\bf{D}[/latex] in the [latex]xy[/latex]-plane is Type II if it lies between two horizontal lines and the graphs of two continuous functions [latex]h_{1}(y)[/latex] and [latex]h_{2}(y)[/latex]