Computing integral with floor function

calculusceiling-and-floor-functionsdefinite integralsintegrationreal-analysis

Question

Find the exact value of $$\int_{1}^{2016}\frac {\lfloor \ln x \rfloor} {x}\ \mathrm{d}x\ .$$

My working

My intuition is to treat the integral without the floor function and integrate, then "put back" the floor function after, so $$\int_{1}^{2016}\frac {\lfloor \ln x \rfloor} {x}\ \mathrm{d}x = \frac 1 2 [(\lfloor \ln x \rfloor)^2]^{x = 2016}_{x = 1}\ .$$


May I know if my intuition is correct? If not, what would be the right way to do this? This is my first time encountering an integral with the floor function. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated 🙂

Best Answer

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This is a plot of floor(ln(x)) along x axis.Find these points of discontinuity and break your integral at these points. The the numerator in all of these sub parts will be a constant and you will have just $\frac{some-constant}{x}$ as the integrand.

You can find these points of discontinuity using desmos.com or a scientific calculator (which is easily available on smartphones or computers these days).

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