Author Archives: Sybil Shaver

National Voter Registration Day (bumped up and updated)

UPDATE: In NY State, the deadline to vote in the November elections is this Friday 13 October 2017.

If you want to vote in the 2018 primaries, you must register in that party NOW by Friday 13 November. The 2018 elections will include every member of Congress, among much else.

 

Today (26 September 2017) is National Voter Registration Day.

If you are a resident of NY, you can find information about registering to vote here. [NY State Board of Elections site]

If you are a resident of NJ, you can find information about registering to vote here. [NJ Department of State site]

 

 

resources for Wednesday 11 October class

Here are some resources for today’s class:

Integration using partial fractions when there is an irreducible quadratic factor:

MAT1575Partial-Fractions-Quadratics-slideshow

(corrected typos)

Table of Derivatives and Antiderivatives (this is what we started with):

Slideshow of new indefinite integrals to add to this table: (using methods we have so far learned)

MAT1575Integration-Formulas-Theorems-OurMethods-slideshow

(corrected typos)

Outline notes for summarizing methods so far:

MAT1575OutlineSummaryOfIntegrationMethods

 

 

Request for homework problems on the board next time

By request, I am posting here some homework problems which I would like to have students put on the board on Wednesday. To help save time, if you get to the classroom before class starts, you could put one or more of these on the board at that time, before the start of class – you don’t have to wait! (Reminder: You get extra credit quiz points for putting problems on the board, as well as for answering student questions on Piazza.)

From the course outline:

Any of the indefinite integrals which are mentioned in the problem section from Session 6 (they are not in the textbook). Here they are:

\displaystyle \int \frac{x^{2}}{\sqrt{4-x^{2}}}\textrm{d}x

 

\displaystyle \int \frac{x^{3}}{\sqrt{x^{2}+9}}\textrm{d}x

 

\displaystyle \int \frac{\sqrt{x^{2}=9}}{x^{4}}\textrm{d}x

 

\displaystyle \int \frac{1}{x^{2}\sqrt{4-x^{2}}}\textrm{d}x

 

\displaystyle \int \frac{1}{x^{2}\sqrt{x^{2}+9}}\textrm{d}x

 

Also: Textbook p. 304 #18 and #32

 

Wednesday 4 October class

Topics:

• Completing the square in order to use trig substitution. See my notes on Piazza from my WeBWorK problem which I showed on the board in class. (WeBWorK “Trigonometric Substitution 3” problems 9, 18, 21, and 3 use this. 3 is a little more challenging.)

• Back to partial fractions expansion when the denominator has only linear factors: Examples 183 and 184. I showed the details of the long division for Ex. 184, and I will try to type that up when I have time. I have not yet found any nice videos that show long division used in partial fractions except for this one from Khan Academy. If you need to review long division of polynomials, Khan academy has a number of videos on that topic (in Algebra 2, not specific to partial fractions).

We have to use long division to reduce the degree of the numerator whenever the degree of the numerator is the same as or greater than the degree of the denominator. Partial fractions only works for rational expressions where the numerator has smaller degree than the denominator.

Homework:

• Review the examples discussed in class, and review long division of polynomials as well if you feel the need!

• Do the WeBWorK: there is an additional short assignment “Partial Fractions 2” which is also due next Tuesday. PLEASE do not wait to the last minute!

Please also remember that one of the purposes of assigning WeBWorK is that, since you get immediate feedback if your answer is wrong, the intention is that you will seek help (read the book, look at the videos I linked, post a question to Piazza, talk to a classmate or tutor… etc…) AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, not waiting for the next class meeting! Not to mention that if you post a question to Piazza, you give your fellow classmates an opportunity to help (which is always a good thing) and to earn a few quiz points (which is also a good thing).

• There will be a quiz next time: the topic will be completing the square in trig substitution (see problems 18, 21 in the WeBWorK), and partial fractions used to integrate (no long division).

 

Don’t forget, if you get stuck on a problem, you can post a question on Piazza. Make sure to give your question a good subject line and tell us the problem itself – we need this information in order to answer your question. And please only put one problem per posted question!

 

Monday 2 October class

Topics:

• More on trig substitutions: substituting back at the end, for indefinite integrals

(Example from last time and also the examples below)

• Trig substitutions when there are no radical signs over the sum or difference of squares: I discussed Examples 178-180 in the textbook.

• Completing a square to use a trig substitution (Example 179)

The videos on Trig Substitution from Patrick’s Just Math Tutorials are linked in the post from last time: Example 3 uses completing the square to get to the trig substitution.

• Partial fractions: introduction, and one integral.

Patrick has a video on finding the partial fractions expansion, which unfortunately contains an error (wrong number). See if you can find the error and correct it! (There will be a blue annotation square when the error occurs.)

He also gives a nice trick for finding the coefficients when you only have linear factors in your denominator.

 

Homework:

• Review the examples discussed in class. I hope you find these videos helpful also!

• Do the WeBWorK: Note there is a new assignment I linked after class: it is just on finding the partial fractions expansions, no integration yet. These are not due until next week, but please do not wait to the last minute! Try to do at least a few by next time.

• There will be a quiz next time: the topic will be Trigonometric integrals of the type that includes powers of tangent and/or secant, and also a definite integral which uses trigonometric substitution.

 

Don’t forget, if you get stuck on a problem, you can post a question on Piazza. Make sure to give your question a good subject line and tell us the problem itself – we need this information in order to answer your question. And please only put one problem per posted question!

 

Wednesday 27 September class

(After Test 1)

Topics:

\int \sec(x)\textrm{d}x = \ln\left|\sec(x) + \tan(x)\right| + C

This is found by a clever trick that lets us use substitution: see here. (Just the first paragraph.) A similar trick will give the indefinite integral of \csc(x). Once we computed these, we add them to our list of integration formulas.

• More integration using Trigonometric substitution: we carried out some indefinite integrals, but because of the short class period there was no time to finish the last step, which is substituting back for \theta in terms of x. For some indefinite integrals this is rather straightforward, but not for the two we looked at today.

Before going on to that last step, it might be a good idea to brush up on your right-triangle trigonometry definitions of sine, cosine, tangent, secant, cosecant, and cotangent. We’ll use little right triangles and the Pythagorean Theorem to find the formulas for substituting back in the indefinite integrals.

My notes are unavoidably delayed… I hope this is the last delay! But in the meantime here are some goodies:

I  am linking three examples (four videos, because one of them got cut off before it was over) from PatrickJMT which show trigonometric substitutions similar to my examples. Please view them and pay special attention to the last part when he draws the right triangles and uses them to find the back-substitutions. For each video I’ve indicated the time marker when that part of the process begins.

Unfortunately the last two examples are only available on YouTube and not on PatrickJMT’s website. Sometimes other videos will start autoplaying on YouTube after the linked one finishes. Sorry, I don’t know how to prevent this from happening.

I recommend you view these in the order I have them below, despite being out of numerical order.

Here is an example, from his website: \int \frac{\textrm{d}x}{\sqrt{9x^{2}+4}}

Example 2

The use of the right triangle to find the back-substitution starts at about 5:15 on the video.

 

Here is another example on YouTube: \int \frac{x^{3}}{\sqrt{16-x^{2}}}\textrm{d}x

Example 1

The use of the right triangle to find the back-substitution starts at about 14:09 on the video.

 

Here is another example on YouTube, confusingly also called Example 1 : \int \frac{x^{3}}{\sqrt{x^{2} + 9}}\textrm{d}x

Example 1 part 1, Example 1 part 2

The use of the right triangle to find the back-substitution starts at about 11:50 on part 1 and continues to part 2 (which may autoplay when part 1 is finished).

This video is not as polished as his others, which is probably why it didn’t end up on his website.

 

Homework:

• Study at least the first two of the videos linked above, paying special attention to the use of the right triangles in substituting back after the integration. Make sure that you understand how the right triangle is constructed and used. (You can also read my notes once they are posted of course!)

• Do the WeBWorK: there is one old and one new assignment. For the problems in this new assignment, Trigonometric substitution 2, you are told which substitution to use, so you do not have to guess. The challenge is to use the proper right triangle to find the back-substitution at the end.

• There will be a quiz on Monday: the topic will be Trigonometric integrals of the type that includes powers of tangent and/or secant, and also a definite integral which uses trigonometric substitution like the example I worked last time (or the first problem in Trigonometric substitution 1 on WeBWorK).

 

Don’t forget, if you get stuck on a problem, you can post a question on Piazza. Make sure to give your question a good subject line and tell us the problem itself – we need this information in order to answer your question. And please only put one problem per posted question!

 

Monday 25 September class UPDATED

(To be updated – I am typing up notes and quiz solutions and it will take a bit of time.)

Topics:

• More Trigonometric Integrals:

Here are partial notes on the examples I discussed in class (most of them). They prompt you to complete certain parts of the integration, and it will help you prepare for Test 1 if you do this yourself! (Without trying to look up a solution somewhere, that is!)

Here are the relevant videos from PatrickJMT which I have previously linked:

Trignonometric integrals part 3 of 6 

(integrals of the form \int \tan^{m}(x)\sec^{n}(x)\textrm{d}x)

Trignonometric integrals part 4 of 6 

(More examples of \int \tan^{m}(x)\sec^{n}(x)\textrm{d}x)

 

The main thing to remember in these types of integrals is that you want (if possible) to end up using substitution with u = \tan(x), so you want to end up with \sec^{2}(x) in your integrand in order to have \textrm{d}u = \sec^{2}(x)\textrm{d}x.

 

 

Trignonometric integrals part 5 of 6 

(Integrating \int \sin(mx)\cos(nx)\textrm{d}x)

 

In these we make use of the product-to-sum identities, which may be new to most of us!

\sin(mx)\sin(nx) = \frac{1}{2}\left[\cos(mx-nx) - \cos(mx+nx)\right] \sin(mx)\cos(nx) = \frac{1}{2}\left[\sin(mx-nx) - \sin(mx+nx)\right] \cos(mx)\cos(nx) = \frac{1}{2}\left[\cos(mx-nx) + \cos(mx+nx)\right]

 

And you may want to view this one also

Trignonometric integrals part 6 of 6 

(More examples of different kinds of trig integrals that don’t fit neatly into the above categories)

 

• Trigonometric substitution (introduction)

Note to follow…

 

Homework:

• Study and complete the examples when I post them (or from your notes).

• Do the WeBWorK: In the “Trigonometric Integrals” homework you should at least complete the ones that are powers of sines times powers of cosines by Tuesday night, since that is on Test 1. Also do the new “Trigonometric Substitution 1” assignment, only 2 problems, due by Tuesday night. Do not wait to the last minute!

• Don’t forget that Test 1 is scheduled for Wednesday. See the separate post for more information and review.

 

Don’t forget, if you get stuck on a problem, you can post a question on Piazza. Make sure to give your question a good subject line and tell us the problem itself – we need this information in order to answer your question. And please only put one problem per posted question!