- #1
NanakiXIII
- 391
- 0
In a lot of compilations of standard integrals (my Calculus book does this, Wikipedia does this), a lot of the integrals of trigonometric functions have an absolute value in their solution which seems out of place to me. For example, take the integral
\int dx \cot{x}.
My Calculus book says this equals \log |\sin{x}|. Now, I could be mistaken, but it seems to me that \log (\sin{x}) would do just fine and in fact, since |\sin{x}| isn't a smooth function, I wouldn't expect to find it as a solution.
My first guess is that the | | are for some reason used without their meaning as absolute value. Is this the case? If so, what's the point of using them instead of regular brackets?
\int dx \cot{x}.
My Calculus book says this equals \log |\sin{x}|. Now, I could be mistaken, but it seems to me that \log (\sin{x}) would do just fine and in fact, since |\sin{x}| isn't a smooth function, I wouldn't expect to find it as a solution.
My first guess is that the | | are for some reason used without their meaning as absolute value. Is this the case? If so, what's the point of using them instead of regular brackets?