Calculus – How to Integrate Complex Definite Integral

calculusdefinite integralsintegration

A good day to everyone at MSE!

I am trying to find a closed form for the below integral

$$\int_1^{\infty} \frac{x^4+x^3+1}{\sqrt{x^4+2x^3-1} \cdot (x^4+2x^3+x^2-1)} dx$$

Here are some of my attempts at tackling this integral:

$1.$ Divide the expression by $x^2$ both in numerator and denominator. I got:

$$\int_1^{\infty} \frac{x^2+x+\frac{1}{x^2}}{(x^3+2x^2+x-\frac{1}{x^2})\cdot \sqrt{x^2+2x – \frac{1}{x^2}}}dx$$

Could not go any further, so abandoned it.

$2.$ Try splitting the numerator into

$$\int_1^{\infty} \frac{(x^4+2x^3+x^2-1)-(x^3+x^2-2)}{\sqrt{x^4+2x^3-1} \cdot (x^4+2x^3+x^2-1)} dx$$

$$= \int_1^{\infty} \frac{1}{\sqrt{x^4+2x^3-1}} dx – \int_1^{\infty} \frac{x^3+x^2-2}{\sqrt{x^4+2x^3-1}\cdot (x^4+2x^3+x^2-1)} dx$$

But I again could not do anything after this.

I have also tried integration by parts, but I don't think I have simplified the expression any further.

WolframAlpha calculates the value to be $0.61548..$ but does not give a closed-form.

I would appreciate if someone can guide me in solving this integral, thank you very much!

Best Answer

Dividing by $x^3$ in the numerator and denominator does the trick. The integral becomes:

$$I = \int_1^{\infty} \frac{x+1+\frac{1}{x^3}}{(x^2+2x+1-\frac{1}{x^2}) \cdot \left(\sqrt{x^2+2x-\frac{1}{x^2}}\right)}dx$$

Now note that

$$ \mathrm{d} \left(x^2+2x+1-\frac{1}{x^2}\right) = \left(2x + 2 + \frac{2}{x^3} \right) \mathrm{d}x$$

Thus, substituting

$$t = \left(x^2+2x+1-\frac{1}{x^2}\right)$$

We can rewrite the integral into the much nicer

$$I = \frac{1}{2} \cdot \int_3^{\infty} \frac{1}{t \cdot \sqrt{t-1}} dt$$

Then substituting $\sec^2 u = t$ and $2 \sec^2 u \tan u du = \mathrm{d}t$, we get:

$$I = \frac{1}{2} \cdot \int_{\mathrm{arcsec}\sqrt{3}}^{\frac{\pi}{2}} \frac{2 t \sqrt{t-1}}{t \sqrt{t-1}} dt = \int_{\mathrm{arcsec} \sqrt{3}}^{\frac{\pi}{2}} dt = \frac{\pi}{2} - \mathrm{arcsec} \sqrt{3} = \frac{\pi}{2} - \arccos \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}$$

Thus finally $$I =\arcsin \left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}\right) = 0.6154797...$$

Which matches with what WolframAlpha suggests.