Integration

Section 5: Integrating other functions

Notes and Examples
These notes contain subsections on
 Integrating exponential functions
 Logarithmic integrals
 Using the methods of substitution and inspection
 Integrating trigonometric functions

Integrating exponential functions

Remember that the derivative of ex is ex. Therefore
 e dx  e  c.
x x

Similarly, since the derivative of ekx is kekx:

1 kx
e dx  e  c.
kx

Example 1
2
Evaluate 0
e x dx , giving your answer in terms of e.

Solution
2 2
 e x dx   e 2 dx
1x

0 0
2
  2e 2 
1
x
 0
2
  2e 2 
1
x
 0
 2e1  2e0
 2e  2

Logarithmic integrals

The derivative of ln x is 1 . It follows that 1

x  x dx  ln x  c , provided x > 0. Also, if
1 1 1
x < 0, the derivative of ln(x) is
(  x)
.(1)  , so
x  x dx  ln( x)  c . These two
results are sometimes combined using a modulus sign:

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 1
 x dx  ln x  c
Care needs to be taken when using this result. The domain of x must be either
x > 0 or x < 0 – you cannot integrate across zero, as the next example
illustrates.

Example 2
3 1
Find  dx .
1 x

Solution
1
The integral is the area between the curve y 
x
and the lines x = 1 and x = 3.

From the graph, you can see that this area is not defined,
1
as it includes the value x = 0 for which the function y 
x
is not defined!

Example 3
1
Integrate  3 x dx
Solution
1
 3x dx  13  ln x dx
 13 ln x  c

The example above illustrates an important point. In the same way that the
1 1 1
integral of ekx is ekx  c , it is logical that the integral of is ln kx  c , and
k kx k
1
in fact this is quite true. But in the example above, the integral of is given
3x
as 13 ln x  c rather than as 13 ln 3x  c .

The answer to this problem is that in fact these two expressions are the same.
Remember that by the laws of logarithms, ln 3x  ln 3  ln x . So 13 ln 3x  c
may be written as 13 ln x  13 ln 3  c . But ln 3 is just a constant, and so it can be
considered as part of the arbitrary constant.

In general, it is easier to take any constant outside the integral, as in Example

3, since this gives you a simpler expression to work with.

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 Using the methods of substitution and inspection

Example 4
x
Find  dx .
1  x2

Solution
Use the substitution u  1  x 2
du
u  1  x2   2x
dx
1
 dx  du
2x
x x 1 Notice that modulus signs are not
 1  x 2 d x   u  2 x dx needed here, since 1 + x² is
always positive.
1
  dx
2u
 12 ln u  c
 12 ln 1  x 2   c

Notice that this integral can be done quicker by inspection, by noting that the
1 2x
derivative of ln(1 + x2) is  2x  . This is twice the integrand, so it
1 x 2
1  x2
dx  12 ln 1  x 2   c .
x
follows that 
1 x 2

It is easy to spot integrals which can be done by substitution to give a

logarithm. If the integrand is a fraction, the numerator of which is the
derivative of the denominator, then the integral is the natural logarithm of the
denominator.

This can be generalised:

f ( x)
 f ( x) dx  ln f ( x)  c
As in Example 4, in some cases the numerator is a multiple of the derivative
of the denominator, so you need to adjust things a little. In Examples 5 and 6
this approach is used.

Example 5
e2 x The derivative of the denominator is
Find  dx 2e 2 x , which is twice the numerator,
1  e2 x
so you can integrate by inspection.

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 Again, since 1  e is always positive,
2x
Solution
no modulus signs are needed.
e2 x 2e 2 x
 1  e2 x d x  1
2
1  e2 x
dx

 12 ln 1  e2 x   c

Example 6
2 1 x
2
Find  dx , expressing the answer as a single logarithm.
1 3x  x3

Solution
The derivative of 3x + x3 is 3 + 3x2 = 3(1 + x2). This is three times the numerator of
the integrand. So
2 1 x 2 3  3x
2 2

1 3x  x3 d x  3 1
1
3 x  x3
dx
2
 13 ln 3 x  x3 
1

 (ln14  ln 4)
1
3

 13 ln  144 
 13 ln  72 

You may also like to look at the Integration that leads to log functions
video.

Integrals of trigonometric functions

The derivative of sin x is cos x; the derivative of cos x is sin x. It follows that

 sin x dx   cos x  c  cos x dx  sin x  c

Another useful result to bear in mind is that the derivative of tan x is sec2x, so

 sec x dx  tan x  c
2

Similarly, by looking at the derivatives of sin kx, cos kx and tan kx, you can see
that

 sin kx dx   cos kx  c  cos kx dx  sin kx  c  sec kx dx  k1 tan kx  c

1 1 2
k k

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Example 7
Find (i)  sin 3 x dx
 /6
 sec 2 x dx
2
(ii)
0

(iii)  sin x cos x dx

2

Solution
(i)  sin 3x dx   13 cos 3x  c
 /6
sec2 2 x dx   12 tan 2 x 0
 /6
(ii) 0
remember that tan 60  3
 1
2  tan 
3
 tan 0 
 1
2 3

 sin
2
(iii) x cos x dx can be done using the substitution u = sin x
du 1
u  sin x   cos x  dx  du
dx cos x
1
 sin x cos x dx   u cos x  cos x du
2 2
You could also do this by
inspection: notice that the
  u 2 du integral is a product of sin²x
(a function of sin x) and cos x
 13 u 3  c (the derivative of sin x)
 13 sin 3 x  c

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