Integration Overload: Is There a Structured Approach?

[CaptainADHD]

I've been integrating simple variations of integrals (sine, natural logs, polynomials, etc) for almost a year now in calc 1 and half of calc 2 (2281/2282).

The problem now is that I don't know where to start in a complicated integral. All these methods are running through my head and I can't figure out which one to use. I end up spending wayyyyyy too much time on one problem trying stuff and starting over when the derivative doesn't match up.

Is there some structured approach to integration?

 

[sutupidmath]

Is there some structured approach to integration?

Hmmm... i think that besides those techinques that you have probbably learned already, the rest includes ingenuity, and the abbility to notice patterns.

 

[Defennder]

You ought to post the problem here if you're looking for help. Sometimes it may be that the integral itself doesn't have a solution expressible in elementary form.