Different answers: integral table vs trig identity solutions

kostoglotov
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EDIT: I figured out my mistake...no option to delete silly post. Oh well.

1. Homework Statement


The problem is: use iterated integrals in polar form to find the area of one leaf of the rose-shaped curve r = cos(3*theta).

My setup agrees exactly with the solutions manual...but then something weird happens.

The solution manual and I both get to the same point, but then the solutions manual solves it with a trig identity, and I use the integral tables in the back...two different answers are arrived at. After looking through it again and again, I cannot find a calculation error.

I will begin where my solution and the solution manual's solutions diverge.

\int_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\cos^2{3\theta} \ d\theta = 2 \int_{0}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1+\cos{6\theta}}{2}\right) d\theta;]<br /> <br /> 2 \int_{0}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1+\cos{6\theta}}{2}\right) d\theta = \frac{1}{2}\left[\theta + \frac{1}{6}\sin{6\theta}\right]_{0}^{\pi/6} = \frac{\pi}{12};]&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; No problem, I can see how all that works.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Homework Equations&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; I used the integral table in the back that gives&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; \int \cos^2{u} \ du = \frac{1}{2}u + \frac{1}{4}\sin{2u} + C ;]&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;h2&amp;gt;The Attempt at a Solution&amp;lt;/h2&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; Using this I get&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; \int_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\cos^2{3\theta} \ d\theta = \frac{1}{2} \left[\frac{3\theta}{2} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{6\theta}\right]_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6}&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; \frac{1}{2} \left[\frac{3\theta}{2} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{6\theta}\right]_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} = \frac{1}{2}\left[\frac{\pi}{4} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{\pi} - \frac{-\pi}{4} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{\pi}\right] = \frac{1}{2}\left[\frac{\pi}{4}+\frac{\pi}{4}\right]&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; \frac{1}{2}\left[\frac{\pi}{4}+\frac{\pi}{4}\right] = \frac{\pi}{4}&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; \frac{\pi}{12} \neq \frac{\pi}{4}&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; What is going on? Am I just too tired to see where I&amp;amp;#039;ve made some minor mistake??
 
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kostoglotov said:

Homework Statement



The problem is: use iterated integrals in polar form to find the area of one leaf of the rose-shaped curve r = cos(3*theta).

My setup agrees exactly with the solutions manual...but then something weird happens.

The solution manual and I both get to the same point, but then the solutions manual solves it with a trig identity, and I use the integral tables in the back...two different answers are arrived at. After looking through it again and again, I cannot find a calculation error.

I will begin where my solution and the solution manual's solutions diverge.

[; \int_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\cos^2{3\theta} \ d\theta = 2 \int_{0}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1+\cos{6\theta}}{2}\right) d\theta;]

[; 2 \int_{0}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1+\cos{6\theta}}{2}\right) d\theta = \frac{1}{2}\left[\theta + \frac{1}{6}\sin{6\theta}\right]_{0}^{\pi/6} = \frac{\pi}{12};]

No problem, I can see how all that works.

Homework Equations



I used the integral table in the back that gives

[; \int \cos^2{u} \ du = \frac{1}{2}u + \frac{1}{4}\sin{2u} + C ;]

The Attempt at a Solution



Using this I get

[; \int_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\cos^2{3\theta} \ d\theta = \frac{1}{2} \left[\frac{3\theta}{2} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{6\theta}\right]_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} ;]

[; \frac{1}{2} \left[\frac{3\theta}{2} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{6\theta}\right]_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} = \frac{1}{2}\left[\frac{\pi}{4} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{\pi} - \frac{-\pi}{4} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{\pi}\right] = \frac{1}{2}\left[\frac{\pi}{4}+\frac{\pi}{4}\right];]

[; \frac{1}{2}\left[\frac{\pi}{4}+\frac{\pi}{4}\right] = \frac{\pi}{4};]

[; \frac{\pi}{12} \neq \frac{\pi}{4} ;]

What is going on? Am I just too tired to see where I've made some minor mistake??

Please edit your post to make it readable; use "[t e x] ... tex-expressions.. [/t e x]" (no spaces in the word tex) instead of "[; ...tex -expressions... ;]"

For example, here is your first equation when done that way (but I did not feel like doing all the others).

\int_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\cos^2{3\theta} \ d\theta = 2 \int_{0}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1+\cos{6\theta}}{2}\right) d\theta
 
Ray Vickson said:
Please edit your post to make it readable; use "[t e x] ... tex-expressions.. [/t e x]" (no spaces in the word tex) instead of "[; ...tex -expressions... ;]"

For example, here is your first equation when done that way (but I did not feel like doing all the others).

\int_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\cos^2{3\theta} \ d\theta = 2 \int_{0}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1+\cos{6\theta}}{2}\right) d\theta

Strange, I'm seeing normal Tex markup...must be TexTheWorld Plugin I use on Chrome. I thought I could copy paste from Reddit, but I guess not. Good to know.

I also figured out the mistake...u-sub for 3*theta...just rusty and a little weary. I was truly confused though. Thanks for taking the time.
 
kostoglotov said:
Strange, I'm seeing normal Tex markup...must be TexTheWorld Plugin I use on Chrome.
Before you edited your post you used [; and ;] as the delimiters. These might work with the plugin you're using, but they don't work here.

You can use [t e x] and [/t e x] as Ray suggested for standalone LaTeX, but I find it more convenient to use a pair of $ characters at the start and another pair at the end. For inline LaTeX, I use a pair of # characters at each end. This is easier than typing [i t e x] and [/ i t e x].
 
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kostoglotov said:
EDIT: I figured out my mistake...no option to delete silly post. Oh well.

1. Homework Statement


The problem is: use iterated integrals in polar form to find the area of one leaf of the rose-shaped curve r = cos(3*theta).

My setup agrees exactly with the solutions manual...but then something weird happens.

The solution manual and I both get to the same point, but then the solutions manual solves it with a trig identity, and I use the integral tables in the back...two different answers are arrived at. After looking through it again and again, I cannot find a calculation error.

I will begin where my solution and the solution manual's solutions diverge.

\int_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\cos^2{3\theta} \ d\theta = 2 \int_{0}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1+\cos{6\theta}}{2}\right) d\theta;]<br /> <br /> 2 \int_{0}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1+\cos{6\theta}}{2}\right) d\theta = \frac{1}{2}\left[\theta + \frac{1}{6}\sin{6\theta}\right]_{0}^{\pi/6} = \frac{\pi}{12};]&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; No problem, I can see how all that works.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Homework Equations&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; I used the integral table in the back that gives&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; \int \cos^2{u} \ du = \frac{1}{2}u + \frac{1}{4}\sin{2u} + C ;]&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;h2&amp;gt;The Attempt at a Solution&amp;lt;/h2&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; Using this I get&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; \int_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} \frac{1}{2}\cos^2{3\theta} \ d\theta = \frac{1}{2} \left[\frac{3\theta}{2} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{6\theta}\right]_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6}
&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; You are using that formula &amp;lt;b&amp;gt;incorrectly&amp;lt;/b&amp;gt;. The formula is for \int \cos^2(u)du and you have \int\cos^2(3\theta) d\theta. You could take u= 3\theta but then du= 3 d\theta. So you need to &amp;amp;quot;multiply and divide&amp;amp;quot; the integral by 3:&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; \int cos^2(3\theta)d\theta= \frac{1}{3}\int cos^2(3\theta)(d(3\theta)).&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; Now, you can use that formula.&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;blockquote data-attributes=&amp;quot;&amp;quot; data-quote=&amp;quot;&amp;quot; data-source=&amp;quot;&amp;quot; class=&amp;quot;bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch&amp;quot;&amp;gt; &amp;lt;div class=&amp;quot;bbCodeBlock-content&amp;quot;&amp;gt; &amp;lt;div class=&amp;quot;bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent &amp;quot;&amp;gt; \frac{1}{2} \left[\frac{3\theta}{2} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{6\theta}\right]_{-\pi/6}^{\pi/6} = \frac{1}{2}\left[\frac{\pi}{4} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{\pi} - \frac{-\pi}{4} + \frac{1}{4}\sin{\pi}\right] = \frac{1}{2}\left[\frac{\pi}{4}+\frac{\pi}{4}\right]&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; \frac{1}{2}\left[\frac{\pi}{4}+\frac{\pi}{4}\right] = \frac{\pi}{4}&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; \frac{\pi}{12} \neq \frac{\pi}{4}&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; What is going on? Am I just too tired to see where I&amp;amp;#039;ve made some minor mistake?? &amp;lt;/div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;/div&amp;gt; &amp;lt;/blockquote&amp;gt;
 
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