[Math] integrating using student t distribution

integrationprobabilityprobability distributionsstatistics

Evaluate the integral

$\int_0^\infty\frac{1}{1+x^2}dx$

using the Student t distribution.

I don't know where to start. I am assuming that I can't just do regular integration. I don't know how I am supposed to use the Student T distribution. Does it have to do with the pdf of the Student T distribution?

Can anyone help me?

Best Answer

The $t$ density is \begin{eqnarray*} f \left( x \right) & = & \frac{\Gamma \left( \frac{\nu + 1}{2} \right)}{\sqrt{\nu \pi} \Gamma \left( \frac{\nu}{2} \right)} \left( 1 + \frac{x^2}{\nu} \right)^{- \frac{\nu + 1}{2}} \end{eqnarray*} If you write your integrand (for $\nu = 1$) \begin{eqnarray*} \frac{1}{1 + x^2} & = & \left( 1 + \frac{x^2}{\nu} \right)^{- \frac{\nu + 1}{2}} \end{eqnarray*} then you notice that \begin{eqnarray*} \int_0^{\infty} \frac{1}{1 + x^2} \mathrm{d} x & = & \frac{\sqrt{\pi} \Gamma \left( \frac{1}{2} \right)}{\Gamma \left( 1 \right)}\\ & = & \frac{\pi}{2} \end{eqnarray*}