Calculate an integral using differentiating under the integral sign (Feynman’s Trick)

calculusintegration

Calculate $$\int_{0}^{441}{\frac{\pi\sin(\pi \sqrt{x})}{\sqrt{x}}}{dx}.$$

My approach: I know that
\begin{eqnarray*}
\int{\frac{\pi\sin(\pi \sqrt{x})}{\sqrt{x}}}dx&=&\pi \int \frac{\sin(\pi\sqrt{x})}{\sqrt{x}}\\
&=&2\int \sin(u)du,\quad u=\pi \sqrt{x}\\
&=&-2\cos(u)+C\\
&=&-2\cos(\pi \sqrt{x})+C
\end{eqnarray*}

so $$\int_{0}^{441}{\frac{\pi\sin(\pi \sqrt{x})}{\sqrt{x}}}{dx}.=4$$
but, how can solve this problem using differentiating under the integral sign?

Best Answer

Let

$$ I(a)=\int_0^c dx\ \frac{\sin(ax^{1/2})}{x^{1/2}}$$

We've chosen $a$ so that taking the derivative will simplify$^\dagger$ the expression.

$$ \partial_aI(a)=\int_0^c dx \ \cos(ax^{1/2})$$

Now we perform the $x$ integral

$$ \partial_aI(a)= \frac{2}{a^2} \left( a c^{1/2} \sin(ac^{1/2})+\cos(ac^{1/2})-1 \right) $$

Then the $a$ integral

$$ I(a)=\frac{2}{a} \left( 1- \cos(ac^{1/2})\right) +C$$

To find $C$ note that $I(0)=0$ from the first equation. In this case $C=0$ and we have

$$ I(a)=\frac{2}{a} \left( 1- \cos(ac^{1/2})\right)$$

Setting $a=\pi, c=441$, and multiplying by $\pi$ gives exactly $4$.

$\dagger$ In this case, it's not clear if the 'simplified' integral is actually simpler to do on paper. Still, this is the general idea behind Feynman's trick.

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