MHB Question about Trigonometric Substitution

Click For Summary
The discussion revolves around a trigonometric substitution problem involving the integral of 1/sqrt(25x^2+1)^(3/2). The original poster, Mac, correctly solved the integral but was confused about the omission of the factor of 1/5 in the final answer shown in the textbook. A participant clarified that when setting up the triangle for the substitution, the sine function should include the factor of 5, which Mac had overlooked. This mistake led to the confusion regarding the final answer. The conversation highlights the importance of correctly applying trigonometric identities in substitution problems.
MacLaddy1
Messages
52
Reaction score
0
Hello again,

I have a question about a trigonometric substitution problem that I am struggling with. I was able to get the correct answer, which I know is correct because of Wolfram verification, and my school has a way of showing an example which showed the steps... Anyway, see below.

[math]\int_0^\frac{1}{5}\frac{dx}{\sqrt{25x^2+1}^\frac{3}{2}}[/math]

Without going through all the steps, I can tell you that the solution to this integral is,

[math][\frac{1}{5}sin\theta]_0^\frac{1}{5}[/math]

which SHOULD simplify to

[math][\frac{1}{5}*\frac{x}{\sqrt{25x^2+1}}]_0^\frac{1}{5}[/math]

However, the book shows that [math]\frac{1}{5}[/math] is omitted, and this ends up being the final correct answer by taking 1/5 out.

Can anyone explain to me what is happening here?

Thanks,
Mac
 
Physics news on Phys.org
I believe when you set up the triangle for trig substitution you have the legs as 5x and 1, thus the hypotenuse is [math]\sqrt{25x^2+1}[/math]. If I'm not switching the orientation of the legs then that means [math]\sin(\theta)=\frac{5x}{\sqrt{25x^2+1}}[/math] so you forgot a 5.
 
Ah, of course. I tried that problem repeatedly and continued making the same mistake.

Thanks again, Jameson.
 
Thread 'Problem with calculating projections of curl using rotation of contour'
Hello! I tried to calculate projections of curl using rotation of coordinate system but I encountered with following problem. Given: ##rot_xA=\frac{\partial A_z}{\partial y}-\frac{\partial A_y}{\partial z}=0## ##rot_yA=\frac{\partial A_x}{\partial z}-\frac{\partial A_z}{\partial x}=1## ##rot_zA=\frac{\partial A_y}{\partial x}-\frac{\partial A_x}{\partial y}=0## I rotated ##yz##-plane of this coordinate system by an angle ##45## degrees about ##x##-axis and used rotation matrix to...

Similar threads

  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
2K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
3K
Replies
4
Views
3K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
Replies
4
Views
4K