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I have a question about the integral of $\ln x$.

When I try to calculate the integral of $\ln x$ from 0 to 1 I always get the following result.

  • $x(\ln x -1)$ (integral of $\ln x$)
  • $1(\ln 1 -1) - (0 (\ln 0 -1))$

But the second part of the calculation is indeterminate.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks Joachim G.

  • 0
    How did you conclude that the second part is indeterminate?2012-12-25

2 Answers 2

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$\ln x$ is not defined at $0$ so the integral $$\int_0^1\ln x\, dx$$ is improper. Thus, $$\int_0^1\ln x\, dx=(x\ln x -x)|_0^1=1\ln 1-1-\lim_{x\to 0}x\ln x-x=-1+\lim_{x\to 0}x\ln x-x$$ We need to evaluate $$\lim_{x\to 0}x\ln x=\lim_{x\to 0}\frac{\ln x}{\frac1x}$$ Can you do that?

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    Thanks for the quick response. Yes i can do that :)2012-12-25
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Looking sideways at the graph of $\log(x)$ you can also see that $$\int_0^1\log(x)dx = -\int_0^\infty e^{-x}dx = -1.$$

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    +1 though I see $$- \int_{-\infty}^{0} e^x \, dx =-1$$2012-12-25
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    @Henry Did you use a mirror? ;-) But sure, that works too.2012-12-25