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Constant of Integration

Definition

The constant of integration is an arbitrary constant added when finding indefinite integrals or antiderivatives. It accounts for the fact that there are infinitely many functions with the same derivative.

Analogy

Imagine you have a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, but you don't know how many chocolate chips to add. The constant of integration is like the number of chocolate chips you can freely choose to add to your cookies, resulting in different variations of the same recipe.

Related terms

Definite Integral: A definite integral represents the signed area under a curve between two given limits. It does not include a constant of integration.

Integration by Parts: Integration by parts is a technique used to evaluate integrals by choosing which part of the integrand to differentiate and which part to integrate.

Arbitrary Constant: An arbitrary constant is any constant value that can be chosen freely when solving an equation or finding an antiderivative.