Applications of the Double Integral

Mass Density of a Laminate

The double integral has many interpretations other than volume. In this section,
we examine several of those di¤erent interpretations. Many of these intepreta-
tions will involve a lamina of a region R in the xy-plane, which is a solid whose
base is the region R and whose height is 1.

To begin with, let us suppose that the lamina has a mass-density of (x; y) ;
measured in units of mass per unit area ( is the Greek letter mu, pronounced
“mew”). In particular, suppose the x and y-axes are both partitioned into h-…ne
partitions. Then the “box” containing the point (x; y) has a small mass m
and a small base with area A; and the mass density function is then de…ned
m
(x; y) = lim
h!0 A
That is, we de…ne the mass density function so that m (x; y) A

As a result, the mass M of the lamina is approximately the sum of the masses
mjk of the “boxes” in the partition
XX XX
M mjk = (xj ; yk ) Ajk
j k j k

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The total mass is then the limit of the approximations as h approaches 0:
XX ZZ
M = lim (xj ; yk ) Ajk = (x; y) dA
h!0 R
j k

That is, the total mass is the double integral over the region of the mass density.

EXAMPLE 1 What is the mass of the lamina of the unit square

with a height of 1 and a mass density of
kg
(x; y) = (x + 2y)
m2

Solution: The mass M of the lamina satis…es

ZZ
M= (x + 2y) dA
R

where R is the unit square. Thus,

Z 1Z 1
M = (x + 2y) dydx
0 0
Z 1
1
= xy + y 2 0 dx
0
Z 1
= (x + 1) dx
0
= 1:5 kg

Notice that if (x; y) = 1 for all xy in a region, then the mass is simply the
product of the height 1 and the area of the base R: As a result, the area A of a
region R is given by ZZ
A= dA
R

EXAMPLE 2 Find the area of the region R bounded by x = 0;

x = 1; y = 0 and y = x:

Solution: The area of the region is given by

ZZ Z 1Z x
A= dA = dydx
R 0 0

2
 Evaluating the double integral leads to
Z 1 1
x2 1
A= xdx = =
0 2 0 2

Check your reading: What type of region is given in example 2?

Centers of Mass

In elementary physics courses, it is shown hat if n objects with masses m1 ; m2 ; : : : ; mn

have positions (x1 ; y1 ) ; (x2 ; y2 ) ; : : : ; (xn ; yn ) ; respectively, then their center of
mass is the point in the plane with coordinates
m1 x1 + : : : + mn xn m1 y1 + : : : + mn yn
x= ; y=
m1 + : : : + mn m1 + : : : + mn
If a lamina with mass-density (x; y) is partitioned into n “boxes”with masses
m1 ; m2 ; : : : ; mn and positions (x1 ; y1 ) ; (x2 ; y2 ) ; : : : ; (xn ; yn ) ; respectively,
then the center of mass of the lamina is approximately the same as the center
of mass of the “boxes:” approximately given by
m1 x1 + : : : + mn xn m1 y 1 + : : : + mn y n
x ; y
m1 + : : : + mn m1 + : : : + mn
However, since m1 + : : : + mn M; where M is the mass of the lamina, and
since mj (xj ; yj ) Aj ; where Aj is the area of the base of the j th box,
the center of mass of the “boxes” can be approximated by
x1 (x1 ; y1 ) A1 + : : : + xn (xn ; yn ) An
x
M
y1 (x1 ; y1 ) A1 + : : : + yn (xn ; yn ) An
y
M
Since the numerators are approximately the same as double integrals, we are
led to de…ne the center of mass of the lamina of a region R to be the point in
the xy-plane with coordinates
ZZ ZZ
1 1
x= x (x; y) dA; y = y (x; y) dA
M R M R

where M is the mass of the lamina.

EXAMPLE 3 Find the center of mass of the lamina of the unit

square with mass density
kg
(x; y) = (x + 2y)
m2

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 Solution: In example 1, we saw that the mass of the lamina is
M = 1:5 kg. Thus,
ZZ
1
x = x (x; y) dA
1:5 R
Z 1Z 1
1
= x (x + 2y) dydx
1:5 0 0
Z 1
1
= x2 + x dx
1:5 0
= 0:5556

Likewise, the y-coordinate of the center of mass is

ZZ
1
y = y (x; y) dA
1:5 R
Z 1Z 1
1
= y (x + 2y) dydx
1:5 0 0
= 0:6111

When the mass density of the lamina is (x; y) = 1 for all (x; y) in the region
R; then the center of mass is de…ned only by the region itself and is thus called
the centroid of R: Indeed, the mass M reduces to the area A of the region and
thus, ZZ ZZ
1 1
x= xdA; y = ydA
A R A R
Moreover, if the region is symmetric about a line l; then as we will show in the
exercises, the centroid of the region must lie on the line l:

EXAMPLE 4 Find the centroid of the region R bounded by x = 0;

x = 2; y = x; :y = x

Solution: First, we compute the area of the region

ZZ Z 2Z x
A= dA = dydx = 4
R 0 x

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 As a result, we have
ZZ
1
x = xdA
4 R
Z 2Z x
1
= xdydx
4 0 x
Z 2
1
= 2x2 dx
4 0
4
=
3
and since the region R is symmetric about the line y = 0; we must
have
y=0

Check your Reading:What type of region is given in example 4?

Joint Probability

Suppose that (X; Y ) is the outcome of a certain experiment and suppose that it
is known that (X; Y ) must occur in some region S in the plane. Then S is called
the sample space for the experiment and X and Y are called random variables.
Moreover, a function p (x; y) is called a joint probability density of the experi-
ment if the small probability P that (X; Y ) is in a small region in S containing
(x; y) is given by
P = p (x; y) A
where A is the area of the small region. Like a mass density, a joint probability
density is essentially the probability per unit area of the experiment.

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 Thus, if R is a region inside of S and if the x and y-axes are both partitioned
into h-…ne partitions, then the probability P ((X; Y ) in R) that (X; Y ) is in R
is approximated by the Riemann sum
XX XX
P ((X; Y ) in R) Pjk = p (xj ; yk ) Ajk
j k j k

The actual probability of (X; Y ) being in R is the limit of the approximations

as h approaches 0:
XX ZZ
P ((X; Y ) in R) = lim p (xj ; yk ) Ajk = p (x; y) dA
h!0 R
j k

As a result, the density p (x; y) must be non-negative and since there is a 100%
chance of (X; Y ) being in the sample space S; we require also that
ZZ
p (x; y) dA = 1 (1)
S

EXAMPLE 5 A point (X; Y ) is chosen at random from the unit

square with probability density

1 if 0 x 1 and 0 y 1
p (x; y) =
0 otherwise

What is the probability that the point is inside the rectangle R given
by [0:1; 0:6] [0:3; 0:8]?

Solution: Since the outcome (X; Y ) must be in the unit square,

the unit square is the sample space S for our experiment. Moreover,
notice that
ZZ Z 1Z 1 Z 1
p (x; y) dA = 1dydx = dx = 1
S 0 0 0

thus showing that p (x; y) does satisfy (1) and is a probability density.
Indeed, in this experiment, the probability density can be considered
the probability of choosing the point (x; y) “at random” from the
sample space S: Moreover, the probability that a random selection
of (X; Y ) from S will be in R
ZZ
P [(X; Y ) in R] = p (x; y) dA
R
Z 0:6 Z 0:8
= 1dydx
0:1 0:3
= 0:25

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 Thus, there is a 25% chance that (X; Y ) will be in R; which is about
a 1 in 4 chance.

Suppose that the random variable X of a given event has a probability density
of p1 (x) and suppose that the random variable Y of an additional event has a
probability density of p2 (y). Then X and Y are said to be independent random
variables if their joint density function is

p (x; y) = p1 (x) p2 (y)

That is, two events are independent if their joint density function is the product
of the density functions of the random variables of the individual events.

EXAMPLE 6 At a certain restaurant, customers must wait an av-

erage of 10 minutes for a table. From the time they are seated until
they have …nished their meal requires an additional 30 minutes, on
average. What is the probability that a customer will spend less
than an hour at the restaurant, assuming that waiting for a table
and completing the meal are independent events?

Solution: Waiting times are often modeled by exponential prob-

ability densities. Indeed, if X and Y are the random variables for
“waiting for a table” and “completing the meal,” respectively, then
their probability density functions are respectively
0 if x<0 0 if y<0
p1 (x) = 1 x=10 p2 (y) = 1 y=30
10 e if x 0 30 e if y 0
Since the events are independent, the joint probability for the two
events is
0 if x < 0 or y < 0
p (x; y) = p1 (x) p2 (y) = 1 x=10
300 e e y=30 if x; y 0
Our goal is to determine the probability that the combined time
X +Y is under 60 minutes. That is, we want to know the probability
associated with the region R in the 1st quadrant with upper bound
x + y = 60:

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 As a result, the probability that (X; Y ) is in R is

P (X + Y 60) = P [(X; Y ) in R]
ZZ
= p (x; y) dA
Z ZR
1
= e x=10 e y=30
dA
R 300

Since x + y = 60 is the same as y = 60 x; we have a type I integral:

Z 60 Z 60 x
1
P (X + Y 60) = e x=10 e y=30 dydx = 0:7982
300 0 0

Thus, there is a 79.8% chance that a customer will spend less than
an hour at the restaurant.

Check your Reading: Can we evaluate the integral in example 6 as a type II

integral?

Expected Value

Since a probability density is similar in concept to a mass density, we de…ne the

expected values of the random variables X and Y to be the coordinates of the
center of mass of a lamina of the sample space S with density p (x; y) : However,
since ZZ
p (x; y) dA = 1
S
this implies that the expected values of X and Y are given by
ZZ ZZ
X= xp (x; y) dA; Y = yp (x; y) dA
S S

Often we denote the expected values as E (X) and E (Y ) ; respectively, and we

assume they represent the most likely outcome of the experiment.

EXAMPLE 7 What is the expected time for “waiting for a table”

and “completing the meal” in example 6.

Solution: Since the sample space is the 1st quadrant, the expected

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 time for waiting on a table is
ZZ
1
E (X) = x e x=10 e y=30 dA
S 300
Z 1Z 1
1
= xe x=10 e y=30 dydx
300 0 0
Z 1
1
= xe x=10 dx
10 0
1
= 100 = 10
10
Likewise, E (Y ) = 30: That is, the expected values of the 2 events are
the average waiting time and the average dining time, respectively.

Exercises:
Find the mass of the lamina with the given mass density

1. x = 0; x = 1; y = 0; y = 2
(x; y) = 2 kg per square meter
3. x = 0; x = ; y = 0; y = sin(x)
(x; y) = 2x kg per square meter
5. y = 1 x2 ; y = x2 1
(x; y) = x2 + y 2 kg per square meter
2. x = 0; x = y; y = 0; y = 1
(x; y) = 2 kg per square meter
4. y = 0; y = 1; x = y; x = y 2
(x; y) = 2x kg per square meter
6. y = 1; y = cosh (x)
(x; y) = y kg per square meter

Find the center of mass of the lamina of the following regions with the given
mass density. (Use 1-6 above)

7. x = 0; x = 1; y = 0; y = 2
(x; y) = 2 kg per square meter
9. x = 0; x = ; y = 0; y = sin(x)
(x; y) = 2x kg per square meter
11. y = 1 x2 ; y = x2 1
(x; y) = x2 + y 2 kg per square meter
8. x = 0; x = y; y = 0; y = 1
(x; y) = 2 kg per square meter
10. y = 0; y = 1; x = y; x = y 2
(x; y) = 2x kg per square meter
12. y = 1; y = cosh (x)
(x; y) = y kg per square meter

Find the centroid of the following regions.

13. x = 0; x = 1; y = 0; y = x 14. x = 0; x = 1; y = 0; y = x2
15. x = 1; x = 1; y = 0; y = 1 jxj 16. y = 0; y = 1; x = 0; x = sin ( y)
17. y = 0; y = 1; x = y 2 ; y = x2 18. y = 0; y = 1; x = y 2 ; y = x

Show the following are joint probability density functions over the given sample
spaces. Then …nd the expected valeus of the random variables X and Y:

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 19. Sample Space: [0; 1] [0; 5] 20. Sample Space: [0; 1] [0; 4]
p (x; y) = 0:2 p (x; y) = 0:25
21. Sample Space: [0; 1] [0; 1] 22. Sample Space: [0; 1] [0; 1]
p (x; y) = x + y p (x; y) = 4xy
23. Sample Space: 1st Quadrant 24. Sample Space: 1st Quadrant
e x
p (x; y) = 0:2e x y=5 p (x; y) = 2 1+y 2

25. Sample Space: Entire Plane 26. Sample Space: [1; 1] [0; 1]
p (x; y) = 41 e jxj jyj p (x; y) = x1 e xy

27. A bank operates both a drive-up window and an indoor teller window.
On a randomly selected day, let X = the percentage of the work-day that the
drive-up window is in use and let Y = percentage of the work-day that the
indoor teller window is in use (Note: both X and Y are between 0 and 1 ).
Observation over a period of time leads them to the following joint density for
X and Y :
6 6 2
p (x; y) = 5x + 5y if 0 x; y 1
0 otherwise

1. (a) Show that p (x; y) is a joint probability density?

(b) What is the probability that two windows combined are in use less
than half of the time? (i.e., what is Pr (X + Y 0:5) ?)
(c) What is the probability of the drive-up window being used less than
the indoor teller window?
(d) What is the expected value of X? What is the expected value of Y ?
Interpret your result.

28. What is the joint probability density for the coordinates of a point
(X; Y ) chosen uniformly randomly from the triangle with vertices (0; 0) ; (1; 0) ;
and (0; 1)? What is the probability that X < Y ? What is the probability that
2X < Y ?
29. Suppose we are given radioactive substances A and B with decay rates
> 0 and > 0; respectively. Then the probability that A will decay in the
time interval [s; s + ds] and B will decay in the time interval [t; t + dt] is given
by
e s t dsdt
for s; t 0:

1. (a) What is the probability density on the …rst quadrant?

(b) What is the probability that A decays before B (in terms of and
)?
(c) What is the probability that both will have decayed by time T:

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 30. What are the expected values for the decays of A and B, respectively,
in exercise 29 (as functions of and )? Explain.
31. If X is uniformly randomly distributed in [0; 10] ; then it has a proba-
bility density of
0:1 if 0 x 1
p (x) =
0 otherwise
What is the probability that two numbers chosen uniformly randomly from
[0; 10] have a sum greater than 10?
32. What is the probability that two numbers chosen uniformly randomly
from [0; 10] have a product greater than 10? (see exercise 31).
33. The probability density for a point (x; y) chosen uniformly randomly in
the unit square is
1 if 0 x; y 1
p (x; y) =
0 if otherwise
What is the probability that y will be less than x2 in the unit square?
34. A can of mixed nuts contains 1 kg of cashews, peanuts, and almonds.
For a randomly selected box, let X and Y represent the weights of the cashews
and almonds, respectively, and suppose that the joint density function of these
variables is
24xy if 0 x 1; 0 y 1; x + y 1
p (x; y) =
0 if x < 0 or y < 0

Show that p(x; y) is a probability density, and then compute the expected values
of X and Y . What is the probability that half of the weight of the contents of
the can will be cashews?
35. Your arrive at a restaurant where the time T between two customers
being seated has a density of p (t) = e t for t 0: What is the probability that
you have less than 10 minutes to wait before being seated if there is one person
ahead of you if the person two ahead of you is seated just as you arrive? (Hint:
Let S be the time between you and the customer ahead of you, and let T be the
time between the customer ahead of you and the customer just seated. Assume
S and T are independent with densities p (s) = e s for s 0 and q (t) = e t
for t 0; respectively).
36. Suppose that on a certain internet server, the time T between the arrival
of two successive packets is exponentially distributed with density
0:01t
p (t) = 0:01e f or t 0

What is the probability of 3 packets being received in less than 50 millisec-

onds? (Hint: Let T be the waiting time between …rst and second arrival, and
let S be the time between the second and third arrival. Assume S and T are
independent).

Exercises 37 and 38 explore population densities.

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 37. Bacteria is growing on a slide which corresponds to [0; 20] [0; 5], where
distances are in centimeters. If the density of the bacteria is determined to be
bacteria
(x; y) = 1000xy (20 x) (5 y)
cm2
then about how many bacteria are on the slide?
38. A certain town is overlaid by the unit square with sides of length 1 mile.
The population density is then measured to be

(x; y) = 100xy people per square mile

What is the approximate population of that town?

39. Suppose that a region R [ S has mass density (x; y)

Show that if the center of mass of a laminate of R is (x1 ; y1 ) and if the center
of mass of a laminate of S is (x2 ; y2 ) ; then the center of mass of a laminate of
R [ S has coordinates
x1 M1 + x2 M2 y 1 M1 + y 2 M2
x= ; y=
M1 + M2 M1 + M2
where M1 is the mass of R and M2 is the mass of S:
40. Show that if p1 (x) and p2 (y) are probability densities for x and y,
respectively, then
p (x; y) = p1 (x) p2 (y)
is a probability density on R2 :
41. Write to Learn: Torque is the tendency of a force to cause an object
to rotate about a given axis. In particular, if the force is gravity, then the torque

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of a laminate of a region R with mass density (x; y) about a line x =

is given by ZZ
torque = (x ) (x; y) dA
R
Write a short essay which shows that the torque is zero if and only if

=x

42. Write to Learn: Suppose x is a random variable with probability

density p1 (x) ; and suppose that y is a random variable with density p2 (y) : If
their joint probability density p (x; y) can be written as

p (x; y) = p1 (x) p2 (y)

then x and y are said to be independent random variables. Write a short essay
which shows that if x and y are independent, then

P (a x b and c y d) = P (a x b) P (c y d)

for all [a; b] [c; d] :

43. Write to Learn: The convolution for x 0 of two functions f (t) and
g (t) is given by
Z t
(f g) (t) = f (t u) g (u) du
0
Show that if X and Y are non-negative random variables with probability den-
sities f and g; respectively, then f g is the probability density for their sum,
X + Y:
44. What is the probability density for X + Y in exercise 43 if we remove
the restriction that X and Y be non-negative?

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