Review the key concepts, formulae, and examples before starting your quiz.
🔑Concepts
Integration by substitution is the inverse process of the chain rule for differentiation, used to simplify an integrand by changing the variable of integration.
The substitution is typically chosen such that its derivative is also present in the integrand, or to simplify a nested function.
When performing a substitution in a definite integral, the limits of integration MUST be changed from -values to -values using the substitution formula .
For HL, substitutions may involve more complex algebraic manipulations, such as solving for in terms of to replace remaining terms in the integrand (e.g., if , then ).
Trigonometric substitutions are a subset of this method, where terms like suggest and terms like suggest .
📐Formulae
💡Examples
Problem 1:
Evaluate the indefinite integral using the substitution .
Solution:
Let . Then , which means . Also, if , then . Substitute these into the integral: Substitute back :
Explanation:
In this case, the derivative of the inner function was 1, but we still needed to substitute the term outside the square root by rearranging the substitution equation.
Problem 2:
Evaluate the definite integral .
Solution:
Let . Then , so . Change the limits: When . When . The integral becomes: Using log laws:
Explanation:
This example uses the form . Notice how the limits were updated to the domain, so we do not need to substitute back to at the end.
Problem 3:
Find .
Solution:
Let . Then , so . Substitute into the integral: Substitute back :
Explanation:
For integrals involving powers of trigonometric functions, look for the function whose derivative is also present. Here, the derivative of is .