Chris Tynan

Posted on Saturday, 18 January, 2003 - 12:33 pm:

I'm stuck trying the first part of this STEP II question [Q6, 2001].

It looks simple, but I keep getting caught up.

ò₀¹ x⁴/1+x².dx

Thanks

Chris

Arun Iyer

Posted on Saturday, 18 January, 2003 - 12:53 pm:

put x=tanq

love arun

David Loeffler

Posted on Saturday, 18 January, 2003 - 01:54 pm:

Alternative method:
$fraction$
hence
integral

David

Matthew Smith

Posted on Saturday, 18 January, 2003 - 09:22 pm:

And in general, given a rational function to integrate, in which the numerator is of higher degree than the denominator, it is a good idea to try algebraic long division (which is effectively what David did).

Chris Tynan

Posted on Sunday, 19 January, 2003 - 12:14 pm:

Thanks Arun and David.

Chris