I was reviewing the integration technique of trigonometric substitution and I wanted to know why we are only restricted to using sin(a), tan(a), and sec(a)....
For example, in order to find the integral of (1/(1-x^2))dx .... the common method is to use x = sin(a) as the subsitution and you then get the answer arcsinx + C. However, how come you can't use x = cos(a)??? I can work out the problem but I get a different answer. I don't have my notes with me at the moment, but I believe I got -arccosx + C.
Why must I use sin(a)???
2006-07-04
10:27:13
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4 answers
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Anonymous