Chapter (2)

Principles of Integration Evaluation

Part 1
Review of Formulas and Techniques
Basic integration formulas
 Recall that each of these follows from a corresponding
differentiation rule. So far, we have expanded this list slightly by
using the method of substitution, as in example 1.1.

EXAMPLE 1.1 A Simple Substitution

Evaluate  sin(ax) dx, for a  0.
Solution The obvious choice here is to let u = ax, so that du = a dx.
This gives us
Substitution will not resolve all of your integration difficulties,
as we see in example 1.3.

EXAMPLE 1.3 An Integrand That Must Be Expanded

Evaluate  (x2 − 5)2 dx.

Solution Your first impulse might be to substitute u = x2 − 5.

However, this fails, as we don’t have du = 2x dx in the integral.
(We can force the constant 2 into the integral, but we can’t get
the x in there.) On the other hand, you can always multiply out
the binomial to obtain
The moral of example 1.3 is to make certain you don’t overlook
simpler methods. The most general rule in integration is to keep
trying. Sometimes, you will need to do some algebra before you
can recognize the form of the integrand.
EXAMPLE 1.4 An Integral Where We Must Complete the Square

Solution Not much may come to mind here. Substitution for

either the entire denominator or the quantity under the square
root does not work. (Why not?) So, what’s left? Recall that
there are essentially only two things you can do to a quadratic
polynomial: either factor it or complete the square. Here, doing
the latter sheds some light on the integral. We have
If we factor out the 4 in the square root, we get
EXAMPLE 1.5 An Integral Requiring Some Imagination

Solution As with most integrals, you cannot evaluate this as it

stands. Notice that the numerator is very nearly the derivative
of the denominator (but not quite). Recognize that you can
complete the square in the denominator, to obtain
Now, the denominator nearly looks like the denominator in

If we factor out an 8, it will look even more like this, as

follows.