Integration using substitution

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the integration of the function involving sine and cosine, specifically the integral of \(\int\sin^{6}\theta\cos\theta d\theta\). Participants are exploring substitution methods to solve the integral.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts substitution with \(u = \cos\theta\) but expresses uncertainty about the next steps. Other participants suggest using \(u = \sin\theta\) as an alternative substitution, indicating a potential oversight in the original approach.

Discussion Status

Participants are actively discussing different substitution strategies. While some guidance has been offered regarding the choice of substitution, there is no explicit consensus on the best approach yet.

Contextual Notes

The original poster mentions confusion about the derivative of sine, indicating a possible misunderstanding of basic differentiation rules. This may affect their approach to the problem.

SticksandStones
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[SOLVED] Integration using substitution

Problem: Find the integral of:
\int\sin^{6}\theta\cos\theta d\theta

My attempt:

Let u\equiv\cos\theta
so: du\equiv\sin\thetad\theta

Only I don't know where to go from there.

The book says it should \frac{1}{7}\sin^{7}\theta+C but I have no idea how they got that.

I'm probably missing something obvious here.
 
Last edited:
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Try letting u=sin \theta
 
Your are much better off letting u=sin(x).
 
Dick said:
Your are much better off letting u=sin(x).

Ah, that was the totally obvious thing I was missing. For some reason, I decided that the derivative of Sin(x) was...Sin(x)...

Thanks guys.
 

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