I am high school student with an interest in mathematics. My school allowed me to self-study Pre-calculus over the summer so that I can move into AP Calculus AB next school year. I'm using a course on edX called Discovery Precalculus and things are ok for the most part, but I've recently hit a rough patch. I've come across a question that's asking me to find the algebraic measure of the space between a curve and the x-axis. From what I know, this would imply using integrals, but how does this make sense if this is meant to be a precalculus course? I've never worked with integrals or derivatives before. 

**The Question**

I am given the function $f(t) = \frac{1}{t}$. It says our activities are restricted to the interval $t\in[1,3]$, which I'm guessing, in the language of calculus, would be the limits. The next things it tells me to do is plot the function on a coordinate plane with a scale of 0.1. The $f(t)$ axis goes from $0$ to $1.1$ and the $t$ axis ranges from $0$ to $3.1$. Now, from what I know so far about functions, $f(t)$ should be representing the y-axis and $t$ should be representing the x-axis. Finally, I'm told to plot the function along the domain interval $[1,3]$. So after I've done all of this, it states: The function that represents the accumulated area under $f(t)$ on the interval $[1,x]$ where $x\in[1,3]$ will be called $L(x) $. What is the value of $L(1)$? 

**The issue**

I'm pretty sure it's asking me to find the area between the point $[1,1]$ and $[1,3]$, but *how do I do this?* It can't possibly be asking me to use integrals when the concept has never been brought up within in the scope of the course. I tried to sort it out and the farthest I got was $\int\_1^3$, which I'm not even sure is right. Is there some sort of intuitive thing that I'm missing? 

edit - Here is the entire problem as presented in the course (This just includes the first part, where it asks for $L(1)$): 
[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NerAs.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NerAs.png)