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Puzzle Solving 101 - Integrals Mystery Cache

Hidden : 5/31/2015
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

The Puzzle Solving Series was created by a group of local cachers to spread their love of the unknown/mystery cache. Released around the first and the fifteenth of each month, each cache will demonstrate or explain a puzzle technique. Use these techniques to then solve the accompanying puzzle.


Cache is not at the posted coordinates.

The integral is an important concept in mathematics. Integration is one of the two main operations in calculus, with its inverse, differentiation, being the other.
Given a function f of a real variable x and an interval [a, b] of the real line, the definite integral:

is defined informally as the signed area of the region in the xy-plane that is bounded by the graph of f, the x-axis and the vertical lines x = a and x = b. The area above the x-axis adds to the total and that below the x-axis subtracts from the total.

Roughly speaking, the operation of integration is the reverse of differentiation. For this reason, the term integral may also refer to the related notion of the antiderivative, a function F whose derivative is the given function f. In this case, it is called an indefinite integral and is written:

The integrals discussed here are those termed definite integrals. It is the fundamental theorem of calculus that connects differentiation with the definite integral: if f is a continuous real-valued function defined on a closed interval [a, b], then, once an antiderivative F of f is known, the definite integral of over that interval is given by


To simplify this puzzle we are going to use some basic integrals which can be seen in the table below. Each row shows the integral of a basic function in the indefinite form, it's definite form from x=a to x=b and it's definite form from x=0 to x=1 with its solution. If you don't know calculus you can use this table to simplify your math. All you need to solve this puzzle is found in this table.


PUZZLE:

The North minutes integral should be written in the form: NN.NNN and the West minutes should be written in the form: WW.WWW. Thus the puzzle solution is at N 42 NN.NNN W 83 WW.WWW.


Before hunting for the cache you MUST check your solution HERE





Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Rnfg thneq envy, svsgu cbfg abegu bs tngr.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)