Analyzing the Setup
Imagine you are standing on a coordinate plane, looking at two paths carved out by the equations x+2y2=0 and x+3y2=1. At first glance, these look like standard algebraic expressions, but to a mathematician, they are trajectories.
They are parabolas, and they are about to enclose a beautiful, symmetric region that we are going to measure.
Visualizing the Landscape
Let us first rewrite these equations to understand their geometry. The first, x=−2y2, is a parabola with its vertex at the origin (0,0), opening toward the negative x-axis.
The second, x=1−3y2, is its sibling, shifted to the right with its vertex at (1,0), also opening toward the negative x-axis. Because both open in the same direction, they will eventually 'trap' a region between them.
Finding the Meeting Point
To find where these two paths collide, we set their x-coordinates equal to each other. We are looking for the y-values where the curves intersect:
By moving the terms, we find 3y2−2y2=1, which simplifies to y2=1. This tells us the curves meet at y=1 and y=−1.
Substituting these back into our equations, we find the intersection points are (−2,1) and (−2,−1). We have now defined our vertical boundaries for the integration.
The Elegance of Horizontal Strips
Here is where we make a strategic choice. We could integrate with respect to x, but that would force us to deal with square roots and split the region into two separate integrals.
Instead, let us use horizontal strips of thickness dy. This allows us to sweep across the region from y=−1 to y=1 in one smooth motion. The area A is defined by the integral of the difference between the right-hand curve and the left-hand curve:
A=∫−11(xright−xleft)dy
Substituting our functions, we get:
A=∫−11[(1−3y2)−(−2y2)]dy
The Simplification
Look at the integrand: (1−3y2)+2y2=1−y2. This is a beautifully simple quadratic.
We are now integrating 1−y2 from −1 to 1. Because 1−y2 is an even function—meaning it is perfectly symmetric across the y-axis—we can use the property ∫−aaf(y)dy=2∫0af(y)dy.
This turns our integral into:
Final Calculation
Now, we perform the integration. The integral of 1 is y, and the integral of y2 is 3y3. Applying the limits from 0 to 1:
Substituting the upper limit y=1 gives us 1−31=32. The lower limit y=0 gives us 0.
Thus, the final area is:
There it is. Through careful observation and a strategic choice of integration, we have calculated the area to be 34 square units.