An important technique of calculus is integration by parts:
∫
b
a
u(x)v'(x)dx = u(b)v(b) − u(a)v(a) − ∫
b
a
u'(x)v(x)dx
This is useful, obviously, when u'(x)v(x) is easier to integrate than
u(x)v'(x), e.g., if u(x) = x and v(x) = e
x
.
An analogous technique, called summation by parts, works for
sums. One version of the summation by parts formula is: