Below is a problem I did but my answer does not match the book's table of
integrals. I would like to know where I went wrong.
Thanks
Bob
Problem:
Evaluate the following integral:
\begin{eqnarray*}
\int x^2 \sqrt{ 1 - x^2 } \,\, dx \\
\end{eqnarray*}
Answer
\begin{eqnarray*}
\text{Let } I &=& \int x^2 \sqrt{ 1 - x^2 } \,\, dx \\ \\
\text{Let }\sin u &=& x \\
dx &=& \cos{u} \, du \\
I &=& \int \sin^2{u} \sqrt{1 - \sin^2u} \,\, \cos{u} \, du \\
I &=& \int \sin^2{u} \cos^2{u} \,\, du \\
\end{eqnarray*}
Now recall the following two standard identities:
\begin{eqnarray*}
\sin^2{\theta} &=& \frac{1 - \cos{2 \theta}}{2} \\
\cos^2{\theta} &=& \frac{1 + \cos{2 \theta}}{2} \\
\end{eqnarray*}
Now applying the above two identities we have:
\begin{eqnarray*}
I &=& \int \frac{(1 - \cos{2 u})(1 + \cos{2 u})}{4} \,\, du \\
4I &=& \int 1 - \cos^2{2u} \,\, du = \int \sin^2{2u} \,\, du \\
4I &=& \int \frac{1 - \cos{4u}}{2} \,\, d\theta \\
8I &=& \int 1 - \cos{4u} \,\, du \\
\int \cos{4u} \,\, du &=& \frac{\sin{4 u}}{4} + C_1 \\
\end{eqnarray*}
Now recall the following two standard identities:
\begin{eqnarray*}
\sin{2 \theta} &=& 2 \sin{\theta} \cos{\theta} \\
\cos{2 \theta} &=& 1 - 2 \sin^2{\theta} \\
\end{eqnarray*}
\begin{eqnarray*}
\sin{4 u} &=& 2 \sin{2 u} \cos{2 u} = 4 \sin u \cos u ( 1 - 2 \sin^2 u) \\
\sin{4 u} &=& 4 \sin u \cos u - 8 \sin^3 u \cos u \\
\sin{4 u} &=& (4 \sin u - 8 \sin^3 u ) ( 1 - \sin^2 u)^\frac{1}{2} \\
\int \cos{4u} \,\, du &=&
( \sin u - 2 \sin^3 u ) ( 1 - \sin^2 u)^\frac{1}{2} + C_2 \\
8I &=& \sin^{-1} x - (x - 2x^3)\sqrt{1 - x^2} + C_2 \\
I &=& \frac{1}{8}\sin^{-1} x - \frac{(x - 2x^3)\sqrt{1 - x^2}}{8} + C \\
\end{eqnarray*}
However, the book's answer is:
\begin{eqnarray*}
\int x^2 \sqrt{1 - x^2} \,\, dx &=&
\frac{1}{8} \sin^{-1}{x} - \frac{x\sqrt{1-x^2}(1-2x^2)}{8} + C \\
\end{eqnarray*}
2026-04-09 10:54:02.1775732042
Evaluating an Integral with a $\sqrt{1-x^2}$ in it
83 Views Asked by Bumbble Comm https://math.techqa.club/user/bumbble-comm/detail At
1
Let's try a different method: $$ x^2\sqrt{1-x^2}=\frac{x^2-x^4}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}=(x^3-x)\frac{-x}{\sqrt{1-x^2}} $$ Let's do integration by parts: \begin{align} I&=\int x^2\sqrt{1-x^2}\,dx\\[6px] &=\int(x^3-x)\frac{-x}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}\,dx\\[6px] &=(x^3-x)\sqrt{1-x^2}-\int(3x^2-1)\sqrt{1-x^2}\,dx\\[6px] &=(x^3-x)\sqrt{1-x^2}-3I+\int\sqrt{1-x^2}\,dx \end{align} The last integral is well known: $$ \int\sqrt{1-x^2}\,dx=\frac{1}{2}\arcsin x+\frac{1}{2}x\sqrt{1-x^2} $$ so we obtain $$ 4I=\frac{1}{2}\arcsin x+\frac{1}{2}(2x^3-x)\sqrt{1-x^2}+c $$ which is the same as your solution, but also the same as the book's, because we can collect $x$: $$ I=\frac{1}{8}\arcsin x+\frac{1}{8}x(2x^2-1)\sqrt{1-x^2}+c $$