Enraging Pythagoras 2.0

Calculus Level 2

True or False?

If e x 1 + x 2 d x = f ( x ) e x + C , \int \frac{e^x}{1+x^2} \ dx = f(x)e^x + C, where C C is a constant, then f f is a rational function. That is, f ( x ) = P ( x ) Q ( x ) , f(x) = \frac{\mathrm{P}(x)}{\mathrm{Q}(x)}, where P ( x ) \mathrm{P}(x) and Q ( x ) \mathrm{Q}(x) are real polynomials in x . x.


Note: This problem was adapted from a question in the 2016 STEP III exam.

True False

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3 solutions

Jake Lai
Jun 16, 2018

The question is called Enraging Pythagoras 2.0 because legend has it that the person who discovered the incommensurability (in modern terms, the irrationality) of 2 \sqrt{2} sent Pythagoras into such a rage that he had the "heretic" executed. The standard proof is a proof by contradiction, which I leave to the reader to discover themselves. We follow a similar proof technique here.

That the integral does not yield easily (or at all, for that matter) suggests that f f is indeed not rational. Since it is probably easier to proceed by assuming it is rational, we argue by contradiction. Assume that P ( x ) \mathrm{P}(x) and Q ( x ) \mathrm{Q}(x) share no common factors, ie they are coprime.

d d x ( P Q e x ) = P Q P Q + P Q Q 2 e x = e x 1 + x 2 . \frac{d}{dx} \left( \frac{\mathrm{P}}{\mathrm{Q}}e^x \right) = \frac{\mathrm{P}'\mathrm{Q} - \mathrm{PQ}' + \mathrm{PQ}}{\mathrm{Q}^2} \cdot e^x = \frac{e^x}{1+x^2}.

Hence, ( P Q P Q + P Q ) ( 1 + x 2 ) = Q 2 (\mathrm{P}'\mathrm{Q} - \mathrm{PQ}' + \mathrm{PQ})(1+x^2) = \mathrm{Q}^2 . This implies that Q 2 \mathrm{Q}^2 , and thus, Q \mathrm{Q} , has a factor of 1 + x 2 1+x^2 .

Suppose that Q = ( 1 + x 2 ) n R \mathrm{Q} = (1+x^2)^n\mathrm{R} , such that R \mathrm{R} is not divisible by 1 + x 2 1+x^2 . Then Q 2 1 + x 2 = P Q P Q + P Q = Q ( P + P ) P Q \dfrac{\mathrm{Q}^2}{1+x^2} = \mathrm{P}'\mathrm{Q} - \mathrm{PQ}' + \mathrm{PQ} = \mathrm{Q}(\mathrm{P}'+\mathrm{P}) - \mathrm{PQ}' has a factor of ( 1 + x 2 ) 2 n 1 (1+x^2)^{2n-1} , which implies that it has a factor of ( 1 + x 2 ) n (1+x^2)^n . This means that P Q = P ( n ( 1 + x 2 ) n 1 R + ( 1 + x 2 ) n R ) \mathrm{PQ}' = \mathrm{P} \cdot (n(1+x^2)^{n-1}\mathrm{R} + (1+x^2)^n\mathrm{R}') has a factor of ( 1 + x 2 ) n (1+x^2)^n , so P R \mathrm{PR} has a factor of 1 + x 2 1+x^2 . Since R \mathrm{R} cannot contribute that factor, it must come from P \mathrm{P} . However, this is a contradiction, since P \mathrm{P} was assumed to be coprime to Q \mathrm{Q} . Therefore, we may conclude that f f is not a rational function, and the statement is false . \square

Excellent solution. However, can u try to solve the integral. Anyways, excellent work.

Anuj Tripathi - 2 years, 11 months ago

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As Mario 04 shows, the integral have no elementary form

Pau Cantos - 2 years, 11 months ago

I had a similar solution, but I feel a slight adjustment needs to be made to the question, as I feel this alternate solution is valid:

Assume I = f ( x ) e x + C I = f(x) e^x +C with f ( x ) f(x) rational. I = ( f ( x ) + e x ) ) e x + ( C 1 ) I = (f(x)+e^{-x})) e^x + (C-1) . ( f ( x ) + e x ) (f(x) + e^{-x}) is not rational. Hence the statement is false.

Alex Burgess - 2 years, 11 months ago

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Good point. The question as it stands asks to show that all such f ( x ) f(x) are rational, when really the asker just wants existence of such an f ( x ) f(x) . I think it should be reframed as "there exists a rational function f ( x ) f(x) such that (integral equation here)."

Alex Suarez-Beard - 2 years, 11 months ago

Nice work sir. I searched in Google about this but can't find anything. Can you suggest me any book or article?

Pronay Biswas - 2 years, 11 months ago

Great solution! I should add that when deriving Q, in the first term there should also be the factor 2x.

Sabin Merchesan - 2 years, 11 months ago

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Yes, correct this please

Pau Cantos - 2 years, 11 months ago

* sigh * I had gotten to the point where I saw that (1+x^2) divided Q(x), but did not know what to do after that.

Kermit Rose - 2 years, 11 months ago

this has done my head in, can anyone help

caleb perry - 1 year, 6 months ago
Mario 04
Jun 28, 2018

Before starting to prove it, let's state the Liouville's theorem:
The integral I : = f ( x ) e g ( x ) d x I:=\int{f(x)e^{g(x)}}dx , for f ( x ) f(x) and g ( x ) g(x) rational functions, i.e. f ; g C ( X ) f;g \in \mathbb{C}(X) is elementary iff there is h C ( X ) h \in \mathbb{C}(X) such that f ( x ) = h ( x ) + h ( x ) g ( x ) f(x)=h'(x)+h(x)g(x) .
In our case, f ( x ) = 1 1 + x 2 f(x)=\frac{1}{1+x^2} and g ( x ) = x g(x)=x . Let's now assume that h h is a function that satisfies the above conditions.
Hence we get the following differential equation: 1 1 + x 2 = h ( x ) + x h ( x ) \frac{1}{1+x^2}=h'(x)+xh(x) , which is of the form: h ( x ) + p ( x ) h ( x ) = q ( x ) h'(x)+p(x)h(x)=q(x) , whose general solution is: h ( x ) = e p ( x ) d x q ( x ) d x + C e p ( x ) d x h(x)= \large \frac{\int{e^{\int{p(x)dx}}q(x)dx}+C}{e^{\int{p(x)dx}}} . Substituting with f ( x ) = p ( x ) f(x)=p(x) and q ( x ) = g ( x ) q(x)=g(x) , we get after simplifications(without caring about C) that h ( x ) = e x 2 2 1 + x 2 d x e x 2 2 h(x)= \large \frac{\int {\frac{e^{\frac{x^{2}}{2}}}{1+x^{2}}dx}} {e^{\frac{x^{2}}{2}}} . If we substitute x x with u : = 1 + x 2 u:=1+x^{2} , we get that e x 2 2 1 + x 2 d x = e 1 2 e u 2 u d x \large \int {\frac{e^{\frac{x^{2}}{2}}}{1+x^{2}}dx}=e^{-\frac{1}{2}} \large \int{\frac{e^{\frac{u}{2}}}{u}dx} . To integrate the RHS of the last equation we will need to integrate J : = e u 2 u d u J:=\large \int{\frac{e^{\frac{u}{2}}}{u}du} , but this is just the well-known exponential integral E i ( x 2 ) = J Ei(\frac{x}{2})=J and it was proven that this function is NOT elementary.
Hence, our function h ( x ) h(x) is not elementary, therefore not a rational function. This contradicts our assumption that h ( x ) h(x) is rational and hence our integral is not elementary.
Therefore, the statement is false.


Rajan Chopra
Jun 27, 2018

This problem can be tackle simply as we can use substitution method ,that is let denominator be equal to T and then diff. Both sides put in required integral and then solving a simple integral in variable T we get something other than rational function ( logarithm function in x after subs. value of T in solved integral). Hence, false.

Are you sure you performed the substitution correctly? The integral in the problem is known to have no elementary form.

Justin Park - 2 years, 11 months ago

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