Struggling with Solving Integral of arcsin x: Seeking Help and Hints

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around solving the integral of arcsin x, specifically the expression \(\int\arcsin{x}\;dx\). Participants are exploring various methods and substitutions to tackle this integral.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Mathematical reasoning, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts integration by parts and expresses difficulty in simplifying the resulting integral. Some participants inquire about the substitutions tried and suggest that there are effective substitutions available. Others propose specific substitutions, including \(1 - x^2\), and discuss implicit differentiation as a potential approach.

Discussion Status

The discussion is active, with participants sharing different methods and hints. While some guidance has been offered, including specific substitutions, there is no explicit consensus on a single approach. The original poster acknowledges the suggestions and expresses appreciation for the insights shared.

Contextual Notes

Participants are working within the constraints of a homework problem, which may limit the information they can provide or the methods they can explore. The original poster is seeking hints rather than complete solutions.

agro
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I find it really hard to solve
[tex]\int\arcsin{x}\;dx[/tex]
I tried using integration by part with these values:
[tex] \begin{array}{rl}<br /> u=\arcsin{x},&dv=dx\\<br /> du=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}\;dx,&v=x\\<br /> \end{array}[/tex]
Which yields
[tex] \begin{equationarray}<br /> \int\arcsin{x}\;dx&=&x\arcsin{x}-\int\frac{x}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}\;dx<br /> \end{equationarray}[/tex]
After that I tried various substitutions/integration by parts but didn't get any simpler form... Can anyone help my desperate self :) (maybe hints...)

Thanks a lot beforehand...
 
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What substitutions did you try? There are at least two substitutions that work well here; one just screams "try me", and another is one of the techniques I think you've learned by now that is specifically for solving integrals that look like that...
 
Last edited:
Try the substitution [itex]1 - x^2[/itex].

Edit: Heh, guess I gave it away.

cookiemonster
 
Last edited:
Given: [tex]y=\arcsin x[/tex]

Take the sin of both sides of the equation yielding: [tex]\sin y=x[/tex]

Use implicit differentiation: [tex](\sin y)\frac{d}{dx}=(x)\frac{d}{dx}[/tex]

to get: [tex](\cos y)dy=dx[/tex]

Stick the above into this: [tex]\int\arcsin{x}\;dx[/tex]

Substitute y, and (sin y)dy into your original equation: [tex]\int y\cos y\;dy[/tex]

Integrate by parts: [tex]y\sin y+\cos y+C[/tex]

Substitute x and arcsin x back into equation and replace cos y with the sqrt of 1- sin^2 y: [tex]x\arcsin x+\sqrt{1-sin^2y}+C[/tex]

Substitute x for sin y: [tex]x\arcsin x+\sqrt{1-x^2}+C[/tex]

Thus: [tex]\int\arcsin{x}\;dx=x\arcsin x+\sqrt{1-x^2}+C[/tex]

You do pretty much the same as above for the other inverse trig functions. Hope this helped.

You where going down the right path the way you chose to do it also. if you let u=1-x^2 then du would equal? Which could then be substituted back into get the same answer as above...
 
Ouch, I should've been able to see that (the u = 1-x^2 substitution) :). Btw your method is very interesting faust9.

Thanks all :)
 

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