Can substitution be used to find the indefinite integral of 2x/(x+5)^6?

zzinfinity
Messages
47
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


Find the indefinite integral by substitution.

∫2x/(x+5)^6 dx


Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution


I know how to do this using the method of partial fractions, but the book says to use substitution. Is there a way to just do a basic u-substitution with this integrand that I'm just not seeing? Or a way to solve without partial fractions? (we haven't gotten to partial fractions in my class so I feel like there must be some other way).

Thanks!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Use u-substitution. What can you set u equal to?
 
There's a very obvious substitution.
 
haha, thanks guys. I feel like it is pretty obvious but I just don't see it! If you set u=x+5 that gives du=1dx and you're still stuck with the 2x in the numerator. If you set u=2x, you get du=2dx and then you're stuck with the (x+5)^6 in the denominator.

What am I missing?
 
If u = x + 5, what is x in terms of u? When you do a substitution, you don't just replace some of the terms.
 
Got it. Thanks!
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
Back
Top