Average Value of a Function
The table below shows a record of the velocity of a car in miles per hour every 5 seconds over a period
of 50 seconds:
T ime(s) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
V elocity(v(t)) 0 20 30 45 50 60 55 50 60 65 70
To find the average speed of the car in the 50 second time period, we could use the average of the data
given above (omitting the 0 mph when t= 0)
20+30+45+50+60+55+50+60+65+70
10 =
However these numbers do not take into consideration the velocity of the car at the many points in the
5 second intervals between the observations and the velocity may vary on these intervals. Since velocity
is a continuous function, we do not expect it to vary wildly on a small interval. To get a better estimate
of the average velocity we could take observations over smaller time intervals with length ∆x=50−0
n
and compute the average of the collected data
1
n
n
X
i=1
v(xi) = 1
50
50
n
n
X
i=1
v(xi) = 1
50
n
X
i=1
v(xi)∆x.
In fact we define the average velocity of the car over the time interval [0,50] to be the limit of this sum
as the time intervals approach zero. Thus the average velocity of the car over the 50 second period is
given by
vave = lim
∆x→0
1
50
n
X
i=1
v(xi)∆x=1
50 Z50
0
v(t)dt.
(Note if we do not have a formula for v(t) or a way to find an antiderivative for v(t), the best way to
calculate the velocity is to use data with as many observations as possible as above.)
Note we might also calculate the average velocity of the car on the time interval [0,50] by calculating
the change in displacement and dividing by 50. Why does this give us the same answer?
Definition If f(x) is a function defined on the interval [a, b], the average value of fon the interval [a, b]
is
fave =1
b−aZb
a
f(x)dx.
(provided that fis integrable on [a, b].)
Example Find the average value of f(x) = sin xon the interval [0, π].
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