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MAT 146
Methods of Integration: Substitution
“When the integration process is not immediately obvious, it
may be possible to ‘reduce’ the integral to a wellknown form
by means of substitution.”
In any attempt to determine an integral, we try to determine what function
has the integrand as its derivative. That is, for f (x)dx , we seek a function
F such that F f . In many cases we can identify F by inspection, because
we know a lot about functions and their derivatives.
2 13
We can look at x 2 dx and quite readily determine that x dx x C ,
3
1 3
because for f (x) x 2 , the function F(x) x C satisfies the requirement
3
that F f . Likewise, there is no calculation or symbol manipulation
required to know or determine that cos(x)dx sin(x) C , because we know
the derivative of sin(x) is cos(x).
Just as there are many cases for which we can readily identify an integral,
there are lots more integrals for which it is difficult to simply identify by
inspection the function that gives the integrand as its derivative. Hence the
need for methods of integration.
The method of substitution is widely used with a variety of integrals, but all
such integrals have one thing in common: Within the integrand appear both
a function and (some multiple of) its derivative. Consider the following
examples.
2
2x x 1 dx 4 For y x 2 1,
dy
dx
2x
dy
sin 2x cos2x dx For y sin( 2x), 2 cos(2x) 2cos(2x)
dx
x2 dy
xe dx For y x 2 , 2x 2 x
dx
x2 dy
dx For y x 2 4x 7, 2x 4 2 x 2
x2 4x 7 dx
x ln x 2 1 x
x2 1
dx
For y ln x 2 1 , dy
dx
2x
2
x 1
2 2
x 1
5x 2
e x3
dx For y x 3 ,
dy
dx
3x 2
3
5
5x 2
For each of these integrals, and countless others, we can make what is
traditionally called a usubstitution that involves the function and its
derivative that appear within the integrand.
From the table above, we know that
du
2x .
dx
du
Although the symbol is just a way to represent a derivative, we now
dx
treat du and dx as if each were a quantity that could be manipulated in and of
itself:1
du 2xdx
If we rewrite the integral in an equivalent form, x 2 1 2xdx , we can now
4
make the following substitutions to express the integral in terms of the
variable u.
Let u x 2 1
and
therefore du 2xdx .
This results in
2 1 2 xdx u 4 du
2 4 4
2x x 1 dx x
The last integral is one we can now determine by inspection, for
4 1 5
u du u C .
5
1
From the standpoint of determining derivatives, we might informally think about du and dx as small
changes in the output and input variables, something similar to what we mean by ∆u and ∆x when
calculating the slope of a line.
The final step is to rewrite the value of the integral in terms of the original
variable x. We do this by substituting u x 2 1 into the value of the integral:
1 5 1 2
5
u C x 1 C .
5 5
We have now come full circle and can express our solution to the original
integral:
2
1 2
4 5
2x x 1 dx x 1 C.
5
Example 2: Solve sin 2x cos2x dx using a u substitution.
Reviewing the information in the table above, we know that a function and
its derivative appear within this integral expression. We let u = sin(2x) and
proceed as in Example 1. We have
du
2 cos2x du 2 cos2x dx
dx
Notice that the last expression is not quite identical to the derivative as it
appears in the original integral. We carry out one step of symbol
manipulation to make them identical:
1
du 2 cos2x dx du cos2x dx .
2
We now can make the substitutions necessary to create an integral we can
solve by inspection:
2
Example 3: Evaluate xe x dx .
du 1
Let u x 2 . Then 2x du 2 xdx or du xdx .
dx 2
x2 u 1 1 u
Substituting, xe dx e du e du ,
2 2
1 u 1 u 1 x2
and e du e C e C .
2 2 2
x2 1 x2
Therefore, xe dx e C .
2
The method of substitution reverses a derivative process we learned that we
call the chain rule. Recall that, using the chain rule,
d
dx
f gx f gx g x
To evaluate f g x g x dx , we let u = g(x) and therefore
du
g x du g x dx . So f g x g x dx f u du F(u) C , where F is the
dx
antiderivative of f.
3
x2
Example 4: Determine the value of 2 dx .
1 x 4x 7
Let u x 2 4x 7 .
du 1
Then 2x 4 du 2 x 2 dx du x 2dx .
dx 2
Substituting and evaluating,
3
3 x2 1 du 1 1 2
2 dx ln u C ln x 4x 7
1 x 4x 7 2 u 2 2 1
1 1 1 1 28 1 7
ln28 ln12 ln28 ln12 ln ln
2 2 2 2 12 2 3
Notice that in evaluating the definite integral in Example 4, we completed
the entire substitution process and the evaluation of the indefinite integral
before returning the limits of integration, 1 and 3, to the problem. Here is an
alternative to this technique:
3
x2
Example 5: Determine the value of 2 dx .
1 x 4x 7
Let u x 2 4x 7 .
Express the limits of integration in terms of u:
When x = 1, u = 12; when x = 3, u = 28
du 1
Then 2x 4 du 2 x 2 dx du x 2dx .
dx 2
Substituting and evaluating, with new limits of integration in terms of u:
3
x2 1 28 du 1 28
x 2 4x 7dx
2 12 u
2
ln u
1 12
1 1 1 1 28 1 7
ln28 ln12 ln28 ln12 ln ln
2 2 2 2 12 2 3
Here are examples using the last two integrals in the table developed
previously. Example 6 is an indefinite integral and Example 7 is a definite
integral.
Example 6: Evaluate
x ln x 2 1 dx .
2
x 1
Let u ln x 2 1 .
du 1 2x 1 x
Then 2 2x du 2 dx or du 2 dx .
dx x 1 x 1 2 x 1
Substituting,
x ln x 2 1 dx 1 1
2
x 1
u 2 du 2 udu ,
2 1
1 1 u
2
2
and 2 udu 2 2 C
4 ln x 1 C .
2
x ln x 1 1
2
Therefore, dx ln x 2
1 C.
x2 1 4
2 2
5x
Example 7: Determine the value of 3 dx .
0 ex
Let u x 3 .
du 5
Then 3x 2 du 3x 2 dx du 5x 2 dx .
dx 3
Substituting and evaluating,
2
5x 2 5 du 5 5 3 2
3 dx u
e u C e x
0 ex 3 e 3 3 0
5 3 5 3 5
5
e 2 e 0 e 8 e 0 e 8 1
3 3 3 3