Integral symbol

The notation was introduced by the German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in 1675 in his private writings;[1][2] it first appeared publicly in the article "De Geometria Recondita et analysi indivisibilium atque infinitorum" (On a hidden geometry and analysis of indivisibles and infinites), published in Acta Eruditorum in June 1686.[3][4] The symbol was based on the ſ (long s) character and was chosen because Leibniz thought of the integral as an infinite sum of infinitesimal summands.

Regional variations (English, German, Russian) of the integral symbol

In other languages, the shape of the integral symbol differs slightly from the shape commonly seen in English-language textbooks. While the English integral symbol leans to the right, the German symbol (used throughout Central Europe) is upright, and the Russian variant leans slight to the left to occupy less horizontal space.

Another difference is in the placement of limits for definite integrals. Generally, in English-language books, limits go to the right of the integral symbol:

${\displaystyle \int _{0}^{T}f(t)\,\mathrm {d} t,\quad \int _{g(t)=a}^{g(t)=b}f(t)\,\mathrm {d} t.}$

By contrast, in German and Russian texts, the limits are placed above and below the integral symbol, and, as a result, the notation requires larger line spacing, but is more compact horizontally, especially when longer expressions are used in the limits:

${\displaystyle \int \limits _{0}^{T}f(t)\,\mathrm {d} t,\quad \int \limits _{\!\!\!\!\!g(t)=a\!\!\!\!\!}^{\!\!\!\!\!g(t)=b\!\!\!\!\!}f(t)\,\mathrm {d} t.}$

• Capital sigma notation
• Capital pi notation

• Stewart, James (2003). "Integrals". Single Variable Calculus: Early Transcendentals (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. p. 381. ISBN 0-534-39330-6.
• Zaitcev, V.; Janishewsky, A.; Berdnikov, A. (1999), "Russian Typographical Traditions in Mathematical Literature" (PDF), Russian Typographical Traditions in Mathematical Literature, EuroTeX'99 Proceedings

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