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Techniques of Integration

What's your favorite technique of integration?

  • Change of variable (u/du substitution)

    Votes: 4 50.0%
  • Integration by parts (udv formula)

    Votes: 3 37.5%
  • Trigonometric Substitution (where x=a sin u)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Partial Fractions (where you decompose the denominator)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • None, I am/was a fruity liberal arts major and don't know Calculus

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • None, I'm a dumbass and don't know Algebra, much less Calculus.

    Votes: 1 12.5%

  • Total voters
    8

Enrico

New member
Which Calculus technique of integration do yall like best? My favorite is Integration by parts cuz it's more challenging than change of variable, not as difficult as partial fractions, and has more applications than trigonometric substitution.
 
Well, I WOULD answer, that, but you know how it's considered highly inappropriate to tell a retarded kid that he's dumb?
 
Enrico said:
Well, I WOULD answer, that, but you know how it's considered highly inappropriate to tell a retarded kid that he's dumb?

yeah.. i guess you're right.. thanks for being so considerate.
 
Integration by parts is by far the funnest. Though, I'm sure anyone would prefer simple u/du substitution any day of the week.

-Warik
 
I saw this topic and I was like WTF?


You can use parts for anything. Clearly a favorite.

u substitution is pretty flexible too, but has mroe requirements to use than parts does.
 
wait til you get to differential equations. it's calculus with a twist, and has many applications in science/math/engineering. in high school, i actually like calculus, but by time i was at the end of my math career in college, i was sick of math. i'm so glad i don't have to take any more math courses ever! yay! but shit, all my engineering courses need math to do all the problems. oh well.

oh, btw, if you have decided on a best technique of integration you like best, you truely are a sick freak.

and integration by parts is easy. i would say of the simple techniques, trig sub is the most tricky.
 
rippedtrojan, I'm in the same boat as you... done with fucking math, yeah yeah!!! Diff Eq wasn't too bad (LaPlace wasn't too fun). Doing math in engineering and major courses is much better than doing math for math's sake.
 
Max Power said:
rippedtrojan, I'm in the same boat as you... done with fucking math, yeah yeah!!! Diff Eq wasn't too bad (LaPlace wasn't too fun). Doing math in engineering and major courses is much better than doing math for math's sake.

definitely. i was so fuckin happy after last semester was over, and i was done with math. granted i still have to do math in my engineering courses, but it's way better than just math alone.
 
It never occured to me that there might be a few more math majors here.

I'm currently taking 1)complex analysis,2)probability with martingales,3)abstract algebra,4)finite fields & error-correcting codes and 5)fluid mechannics.

How about the rest of you?
 
Yeah, there are some smart fokkers on these (all bb) boards.

I'm an engineer... taking numerical analysis, thermo, eng design, and deformable solids
 
Oo... this thread is... still alive....

the easiest/favorite integration technique is by far... the Computer method? Aa... Mathematica/Maple....?

bighead:

nn... yes... only when you take the complex analysis course do they finally reveal to you the easiest way to evaluate the most convoluted integrals... contour integration!... if they just taught you that to start out with... it would have saved so much time... integration without actually evaluating any integrals...

ps. aa... no... I am not a math major... :)
 
rippedtrojan said:


definitely. i was so fuckin happy after last semester was over, and i was done with math. granted i still have to do math in my engineering courses, but it's way better than just math alone.

Hey...watch it buddy - I was a math major...:)
 
Blue Sky,
Big fan of Maple (looking at your avatar)? I have all sorts of problems with it so it isn't the easiest for me :) Love my TI thought

You're not a math major? Why all the math knowledge?
 
Max Power:

Hmm... yes... I am indeed quite a big fan of Maple!! (but others tell me to stop using it because it is a Canadian creation :( ... they tell me to shift to Mathematica but Maple simplifies expressions much better...)... And as for my TI... I used to rely on it but I gave up on it quite a while ago... it can't solve the weird differential equs...

Um... I was an Applied Physics major during my undergraduate years... and I was required to take 2 math courses and 2 mathematical physics courses... and now that I am a grad student they made me take yet another course in mathematical physics... and... now I have astrayed from the path of applied physics and... have fallen victim to the temptations of theoretical physics so...? All I do is... math... :rolleyes:

(I did take several engineering courses too during the undergrad years but... it is definitely the dark side!:D )
 
No---!! NOT A BIO MAJOR!! YOU CAN'T BE!!

(I would have thought you were a physics major from your handle but... apparently not..)
 
What's wrong with biology? :confused:

I want to be a doctor.

They make you take Calculus I and II for Biology at my school. I don't know why, but it's an easy 'A'.

Math, physics, and engineering majors can complain all they want, but they don't have to take Organic Chemistry!
 
Enrico,

Hmm... ok... if you are going to be a doctor I guess that is acceptable... :D

I don't really have anything against bio majors in particular... it just seems rather detached from physics... chemists and physicists are more or less in sync... we do pretty much the same things... maybe if I just took the biophysics course I might be more inclined to accept your kind? :)

Yes... all those premed people have to take math and physics courses too... Apparently there is a section on the MCAT on physics so... well.. more like device physics for medical instrumentation...

but.. still.. that handle... it is definitely a physics handle.... or, so I would imagine??
 
Nothing but respect from me Big Sky (does that handle have anything to do with Montana?)... after all, engineers are people who couldn't hack it as scientists :)

After I graduate and make a little money (hopefully) I'd like to go back and complete a physics degree.
 
Max Power:

... my handle is rather random... um... just that we don't get to see a blue sky around here.... maybe 3-4 monthes of the year it is sunny and somewhat warm...

Actually, um, I don't think most engineers ever wanted delve in pure science to start with? (well... the applied physics department was in the college of engineering so...) They are more intrigued with the practical art... and... I have soon realized I am no good at that so... We are very lazy I think... we just right equations and then we are satisfied... Not that that's all we do but... I think we are more or less satisfied at that point... The experimentalists are probably more well versed in engineering and details of the real world ...

It's good that you want to get a degree in physics :D but... I sort of doubt it will help you (for some mysterious reason a BS in applied physics is more attractive to companies that is a BA in physics... although we took more or less the same courses?? :confused: )
 
Yeah, I was kinda stretching with the Montana thing (specially since it's Big Sky Country).

The quote about engineers wanting to be scientists is from a book (don't know which one) where the main character comes from a very intelligent family and became a sort of black sheep because he became an engineer instead of a research scientist. I thought it was interesting so I kept it with me.

I don't plan on using the Physics degree to get more money... I meant I want to finish up here, get in the job market and make some money. Then take some classes to get the Physics degree for myself. Sort of to prove that I can (since my intro physics courses were probably my most difficult classes).

Do you mind me asking what you're doing with your degree (what job market)? Seems like a really interesting field.
 
Max Power,

Oh, no no... I am not working!! I am still in grad school!! (though many of us often wonder why we even bothered... :( it would have been so much easier to get a job... no homework, higher pay, no work on weekends, and only 8-9 hours of work on weekdays...).. But my friends who got a job... work in... well... those tech companies? (Atlon, IBM, Intel, motorola...) They were mostly engineers... Aa... the PhD's in physics... end up working in National Research Labs, or R&D in companies... I guess.. what you do sort of depends on what area in the field you concentrate on..? But... there are other random jobs... The financial industry tries to recruit a lot of physics/math majors and... they might even pay more... (they don't care if you don't know anything about the industry at all... I always thought it was mysterious... those recruiting people coming in the physics department to get prospective graduates...)

Oh, also... as for physics being hard... I would have thought that engineering is much harder in that... it is sort of an.. art? Physics is an inherently easy subject... there are only like...2-3 sets of equations and 4-5 postulates and... everything else follows... it is not nearly as complicated as Biology or Engineering....
 
Did yall ever take organic chem? I think that's like the dumbest course ever...all these stupid reactions to memorize.

Maybe my next poll will be asking people what their favorite alkane is...mine is butane cuz I can use it to light my cigarettes! :D
 
At my school the intro physics professors are pricks... they fail a HUGE number of students (currently 80% in my class) which is probably why I think Physics is so difficult. I've had a graduate physics student say that he actually failed electricity and magnetism (with my prof).

I have found my physics classes to be much engineering to understand. When a teacher is telling about a property of materials or the design of a bridge, it seems pretty logical. Mechanics is pretty easy (specially since I'm a mechanical engineer) but things like magnetic fields, current, etc... are harder for me to see. Lucky for me I only have modern physics left.

You say theoretical physics is just setting up equations... I could get used to that :) I feel very strongly in the notion that if you understand something, why spend the menial time plugging in numbers... let math majors or computers do that :)
 
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Aa.. yes.. having a good prof. is... very crucial.... it is too bad your intro physics prof is not particularly nice... some people seem to explain the most mundane concepts in a very convoluted fashion.. just to confuse you.. And apparently, we physicists like to make up mysterious sounding words for concepts and phenomenon which are... well... very simple... But, I guess that is how we try to make it sound hard!!:rolleyes:

And... as for problem solving... um.. it is... true that is can be rather cumbersome... (specially if it is a homework problem..) Yet... mechanics only needs Newtons laws (or the Lagrangian or Hamiltonian if you prefer) and... the entire EM consists of only 4 equations.. Maxwell's Equations... But of course... in practice things are much more ugly... :(

Hmm... bedtime it is... well... good night everybody! :nighty:
 
OK so this thread stayed alive a lot longer than I expected it to...

Where's the love for partial fractions and trigonometric subsitution?
 
Enrico said:
OK so this thread stayed alive a lot longer than I expected it to...

Where's the love for partial fractions and trigonometric subsitution?

I'd say partial fractions, because its about the only method of integration I can do at the moment. I've just started revising integration and thats as far as I've got.
 
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