# Integration approaches

• January 9th 2011, 08:17 AM
fatlucky
Integration approaches
Hey,

What is the best approach to integrate this:

sqrt[ (t+a)^2 + a^2 ] dt

Thanks in advance (Happy)
• January 9th 2011, 08:28 AM
alexmahone
Quote:

Originally Posted by fatlucky
Hey,

What is the best approach to integrate this:

sqrt[ (t+a)^2 + a^2 ] dt

Thanks in advance (Happy)

Integrate by parts.

$u=\sqrt{(t+a)^2+a^2}$ and $dv=1$
• January 9th 2011, 08:32 AM
Random Variable
First let $u = t+a$. The let $u = a \tan x$
• January 9th 2011, 08:42 AM
TheCoffeeMachine
Put $(t+a) = a\sinh{\varphi}$.
• January 9th 2011, 08:55 AM
fatlucky
Damn.. I was thinking there would be a more obvious substitution I could use..
I would not think to use these in a calculus exam :O
Thanks for the suggestions - I'll be trying them out now and see what works best for me :D
• January 9th 2011, 09:15 AM
chisigma
In my opinion the best way is the simple substution $x= \frac{t}{a}$ so that the integral becomes...

$\displaystyle a^{2}\ \int \sqrt{1+ x^{2}}\ dx$ (1)

... that can be solved by parts in some steps...

Kind regards

$\chi$ $\sigma$