Solving Integration by Parts with a Reduction Formula

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Homework Statement



Use integration by parts to prove the reduction formula:
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1234/24206074.jpg


Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution


what confuses me about this question is that its not in the form sqrt(a2 + x2) but its in ^n instead of sqrt.. so how do i do that?
 
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Can you elaborate more on why that confuses you? It seems a is a constant and x is the variable to start off. n also has to be a constant. Just do integration by parts, just like you pointed out in the title. Do you remember how to do integration by parts? I'll start you off, dx will be dv in the Integration by parts equation and the rest will be u.
 
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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