Integral - u substitution with arctan

walksintoabar
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Homework Statement


integral of 1/(x^2 + z^2)^(3/2) dx,
where z is a constant

Homework Equations



The Attempt at a Solution


I set u = arctan(x/z) so du = z/(x^2 + z^2) dx but now I'm honestly stuck.
 
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You've got the correct substitution but you are thinking of this in a kind of convoluted way. Just put x=z*tan(u), so dx=z*sec(u)^2*du. Factor out a power of z and do the trig integral in u.
 
x=z\sinh t

is also a valid substitution.
 
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...
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