CHAPTER ONE

INTEGRATION BY POWER FORMULA

The following problems involve the method of power substitution. It is a method for
finding anti-derivatives of functions which contain nth roots of  x  or other expressions.
Examples of such expressions are
5 3 x−7
1/ 3 and 3
1 /2
x +x √5 x +2
The method of power substitution assumes that you are familiar with the method of
ordinary u-substitution and the use of differential notation. Recall that if u=f ( x ),
then du=f ' ( x ) dx .

For example, if u=3 x 2−5 x +7, then du=( 6 x−5 ) dx .

When using the method of power substitution, we will usually assume that x=f (u ) so
that dx=f ' (u ) du .

For example, if x=u3 , then dx=( 3u 2 ) du.

The goal of a power substitution will be to replace nth roots of functions, which may
not be easily integrated, with integer powers of functions, which are more easily
integrated.

For example, if we start with the expression x 1/ 5 and let x=u5 , then x 1/ 5=(u 5)1 /5=u 1=u
and dx ( 5 u4 ) du thus, ∫ x dx could be written as ∫ u ( 5 u 4 ) du=∫ 5 u5 du
1 /5

1
In general, to eliminate x 1/ n, let x=u n. Then x 1/ n=( un)1 /n =un( n ) =u1=u and