Integral giving complex answer
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg59251] Integral giving complex answer
- From: David Sagan <dcs16 at cornell.dot.edu>
- Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 01:19:54 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: Cornell University
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Hello: I am tring to do simple integrals but I am running into problems in that Mathematica gives the answer using complex numbers. For example, Integrate[1/(1 + 5x^2), x] gives a result in terms of logarithms of a complex argument instead of the usual arctan formula. If I integrate something like Integrate[1/(1 + a x^2), x] I get the answer in the form I want using the arctan. My question is how to avoid getting the answer to Integrate[1/(1 + 5x^2), x] in terms of complex logarithms. I know I could just integrate 1/(1 + a x^2) and substitute a -> 5 later but in actuality I am dealing with more complex integrals and it would be helpful if I did not have to be making such substitutions. -- Thanks for any help, David Sagan
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