Mind the limits !

Calculus Level 3

We note that 0 π 2 d x 1 + sin x = 1 \displaystyle \int_{0}^{\frac{\pi}{2} }\dfrac{\,dx}{1+\sin x} = 1 . But instead I am attempting to prove that 0 π 2 d x 1 + sin x = \displaystyle \int_{0}^{\frac{\pi}{2}} \frac{\,dx}{1+ \sin x} = \infty . In which of the following 4 steps, I first make mistake.

Step 1: Consider the following the integral: 0 π 2 d x 1 + sin x \displaystyle\int_{0}^{\frac{\pi}{2} }\dfrac{\,dx}{1+\sin x}

Step 2: Rationalizing the denominator as follows: 0 π 2 1 sin x 1 sin 2 x d x \displaystyle\int_{0}^{\frac{\pi}{2} }\dfrac{1 -\sin x}{1-\sin^2x}\,dx

Step 3: Now simplifying by partial decomposition: 0 π 2 ( sec 2 x tan x sec x ) d x \displaystyle\int_{0}^{\frac{\pi}{2}} \left(\sec^2 x - \tan x \sec x\right)\,dx

Step 4: Integrating and setting the limits: 0 π 2 d x 1 + sin x = \displaystyle\int_{0}^{\frac{\pi}{2} }\dfrac{\,dx}{1+\sin x} = \infty

2 4 3 1

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1 solution

Chew-Seong Cheong
Apr 22, 2018

In Step 2 , we have multiplied the original integrand 1 1 + sin x \dfrac 1{1+\sin x} with 1 sin x 1 sin x \dfrac {1-\sin x}{1-\sin x} that equals to 0 0 \dfrac 00 , when x = π 2 x = \dfrac \pi 2 , which is not defined.

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