Which book has the best exercises for practicing integrals for an exam?

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    Calculus Integral
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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around identifying the best books for practicing integrals in preparation for an exam. Participants explore recommendations for specific texts, the difficulty of exercises, and strategies for mastering integration techniques.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Homework-related
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about whether to focus on a single book or multiple sources for practicing integrals.
  • Another suggests using a table of integrals and attempting to prove each one as a method of preparation.
  • A specific integral is presented for discussion, prompting questions about the appropriate methods for solving it.
  • Some participants propose techniques for solving the integral, including dividing by an exponential function and expanding it as a geometric series.
  • Recommendations for James Stewart's calculus book are made, highlighting its sections on integration techniques and the number of exercises available.
  • One participant expresses uncertainty about other books, mentioning a preference for Stewart's due to its helpfulness and abundance of exercises.
  • There is a suggestion that working through all exercises in Stewart's book could sufficiently prepare someone for an exam on integration.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing opinions on whether to use multiple books or focus on one, with some advocating for the latter. There is no consensus on the best approach to practicing integrals, as various strategies and resources are suggested.

Contextual Notes

Some participants reference specific chapters and sections in textbooks, but there is no agreement on the absolute best resource. The discussion reflects a range of experiences and preferences regarding study materials.

Who May Find This Useful

Students preparing for exams in calculus or related fields may find the recommendations and strategies discussed here beneficial.

alba_ei
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which is the best book to obtain excercises of integrlas for practice for an exam? I mean should i concentrate on 1 book or is vbest try various?
Another question: which is the book where are the most difficult integrals? if you know various please write them from the one that contain the easier to the harder excersices
 
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just look for a table of integrals and try to prove each of them...if you can manage this then you should be fine on a test
 
try this one on for size

[tex]\int{\frac{x}{e^{x}-1}}dx[/tex]

between 0 and infinity
 
How do you do that? I tried with int. by parts, a sub won't work that I can see. I did it on the integrals.wolfram.com and it had a Li function.
 
you use the fact that the integral goes from 0 to infinity.

I believe that the integral can be solved by dividing the top and bottom by [tex]e^{-x}[/tex] expand it as a geometric series, and integrate term by term from 0 to infinity.
 
Alba, do you happen to have a calculus book by James Stewart? If not, you can probably get one at your school's library (it might be a special version like "early transcendentals," or "early vectors," it doesn't really matter). Depending on what version you've got, either chapter 7 or chapter 8 will be on techniques of integration. The first four sections are on integration by parts, trigonometric products, inverse trigonometric substitution, and partial fractions. You can work a couple problems from each section to practice specific techniques.

The fifth section of this chapter contains about fifty integrals (I might be off on that number). The catch here is that they don't tell you what technique to use. You need to figure that out on your own. If your exam is on integration, then just work as many problems as you can comfortably do before the test, and you should be very well prepared. Remember that the key with mathematics is to practice as many problems as you can. As my dad always says, you need to have "extreme familiarity with the material."

Anyway, I hope that helps!
 
Last edited:
arunma said:
Alba, do you happen to have a calculus book by James Stewart? If not, you can probably get one at your school's library (it might be a special version like "early transcendentals," or "early vectors," it doesn't really matter). Depending on what version you've got, either chapter 7 or chapter 8 will be on techniques of integration. The first four sections are on integration by parts, trigonometric products, inverse trigonometric substitution, and partial fractions. You can work a couple problems from each section to practice specific techniques.

The fifth section of this chapter contains about fifty integrals (I might be off on that number). The catch here is that they don't tell you what technique to use. You need to figure that out on your own. If your exam is on integration, then just work as many problems as you can comfortably do before the test, and you should be very well prepared. Remember that the key with mathematics is to practice as many problems as you can. As my dad always says, you need to have "extreme familiarity with the material."

Anyway, I hope that helps!

i see the book of stewart and have a lot of excersices i was watching other books like spiavak but is a little strange so i think that the stewart's book its going to be helpful thanks for the reference
 
tim_lou said:
you use the fact that the integral goes from 0 to infinity.

I believe that the integral can be solved by dividing the top and bottom by [tex]e^{-x}[/tex] expand it as a geometric series, and integrate term by term from 0 to infinity.

Bingo! That is exactly the way to do it.
 
alba_ei said:
i see the book of stewart and have a lot of excersices i was watching other books like spiavak but is a little strange so i think that the stewart's book its going to be helpful thanks for the reference

I'm glad you're finding it helpful. To be honest, I'd say that you don't need to bother looking at multiple books. After all, fifty integrals is a lot of problems. And there are only so many permutations of the same problem that you can be given (after all, even the most creative textbook author can only write up so many variations of inverse trigonometric substitution). If somehow you manage to do every problem in that section, and get all the answers right, then I'd be surprised if you don't ace an exam on integration.
 

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