Title of the course: Nonelementary integrals
Instructor: Dr. Serge Randriambololona
Institution: Bilkent Ü.
Dates: 16-21 August 2021
Prerequisites: A first course on (Riemann) integral
Level: 1st/2nd year undergraduate students
Abstract: When taking our first course on integration in calculus class we may have been given examples of antiderivatives which cannot be expressed as “elementary functions” such as the Gaussian or Fresnel integral and told that these antiderivatives cannot be “solved”. I will give a precise definition of what an elementary function is, discuss how one can prove (following Liouville) that a given antiderivative is not an elementary function and show examples of (mostly ad-hoc) methods to approximate such functions.
Language: EN