# Is integration from $a$ to $b$ same or $b$ to $a$ or is negative?

The integration is generally area under the curve in $\Bbb R^2 \to \Bbb R$

Is integration in the range from $a$ to $b$ the same as $b$ to $a$ or is it negative?

If it is negative, Is it merely notion of convention or is there some intuition for it?

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Integration is generally not area under a curve. Areas are positive, whereas integrals can be negative. –  joriki Nov 7 '12 at 22:19
@joriki Ok, indefinite intrgrals are definitely not area under the curve. Do definite integrals represent one? If they are even definite integrals(area) turns out are negative right? –  007resu Nov 8 '12 at 19:09
I meant definite integrals. Unfortunately I can't understand your last sentence; please try rephrasing it. –  joriki Nov 8 '12 at 21:49
if that's definite, you mentioned, then my last sentence is not important. Even wrong. Thank you. :) –  007resu Nov 8 '12 at 22:55

Suppose that $f$ and $F$ are functions such that $F'=f$. By Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, we have $$\int_b^af(x)\,dx=F(a)-F(b)=-\bigl(F(b)-F(a)\bigr)=-\int_a^bf(x)\,dx.$$ This approach doesn't work for all integrable functions $f$ (there may be no such $F$), but it at least gives us an idea.
Try a substitution $x \mapsto a + b - x$