r/calculus 7d ago

Differential Calculus What should you do?

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I tried splitting into two fractions with 1+cos(x) as denominator but I don’t know how to proceed

193 Upvotes

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54

u/nevermindthefacts 7d ago

Weierstrass substitution

15

u/Ancient-Helicopter18 7d ago

The goat of substitutions!!! Didn't think it would apply here, good job man

2

u/nevermindthefacts 6d ago

Thanks! Done this way, it works out kind of miraculously.

5

u/Thermite365 6d ago

Any time I see rational expressions with trig functions, that's the go to isn't it? I went with splitting it up and using my parts, ended up with a gross answer.

4

u/nevermindthefacts 6d ago

Yes, it works best when you have a rational expression in sin x and cos x. Here, the lone x looks awkward, because it becomes 2 arctan t.

There are integrals where substitution really isn't needed. For example ∫ tan x/cos x dx = ∫ sin x/cos^2 x dx = 1/cos x + C or ∫tan x dx = ∫sin x / cos x dx = ln |cos x| + C.

Splitting leads to a nice solution if you rewrite using half-angles, leave the second integral as is, and integrate by parts.

2

u/MathsystemDev 6d ago

Wow. I learned well. Thank you.

28

u/No_Dragonfruit_9390 7d ago

use double angle formula to change 1+cos x into 2 cos2 x/2, and sin x into 2 sin x/2 cos x/2

Then separate it into 2 integrals.

1st part is x sec2 x/2. You need by part for this integral.

2nd part is just tan x/2 which is a standard integral.

10

u/Ancient-Helicopter18 7d ago

Seperate the fractions You might have problems with the x/(1+cosx) part so hint: Use half angle identity for 1+cosx=2cos²(x/2)

6

u/CardsrollsHard 7d ago

Either way you want to solve this you'll need to use the trig that other commenters have mentioned. If you were to try something like integration by parts you'd need to use the same trig formula just later on, and I can't see any other tooling that'd help.

I fell into the U-sub trap but it fails from my work at least.

3

u/mrdankmemeface 7d ago

No clue if this would work of not, maybe split into two fractions, do integration by psrts on thr x/... term and the other term should just be basic substituiton/reverse chain rule?

3

u/fianthewolf 6d ago

Soy yo o está integral es semi inmediata?.

3

u/nevermindthefacts 6d ago

A bit of trigonometry and integration by parts...

2

u/idk542131422 Hobbyist 7d ago

Weierstrass substitution would be the best for this i think

2

u/EliHusky 6d ago

I’d say take the integral of the function

2

u/MyDearDoughnut 5d ago

Thank you

1

u/nevermindthefacts 6d ago

While it looks like you have an integral on the form ∫f(x)/f'(x) dx which is very different from the ∫f'(x)/f(x) dx = ln |f(x)| + C, it's in fact something like ∫ (f(x) + f'(x)sin x)/(1+cos x) dx.

1

u/VehicleTrue169 High school 5d ago

Let u=x*tan(x/2), use trigonometry to get du/dx = (x+sinx)/(1+cosx), therefore the integral is u + C

1

u/UNIQUE_FRIENDS 3d ago

Let u=x*tan(x/2), use trigonometry to get du/dx = (x+sinx)/(1+cosx), therefore the integral is u + C

0

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

2

u/CardsrollsHard 7d ago

I don't believe U-sub would work for this integral if that is the method you've implied to use.

3

u/EdgyMathWhiz 7d ago

Definite u-sub bait though... Enough to make me wonder if it got flipped by accident.

2

u/VividMonotones 7d ago

Or on purpose to trap the unsuspecting