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HSC 2016 MX2 Integration Marathon (archive) (11 Viewers)

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Paradoxica

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Re: MX2 2016 Integration Marathon

Had a quick crack at the integral with the nested square roots in my break.

So the main difficulty in the problem is handling the integrand, it is not at all clear that this formally written object will be a well defined function, and on which domain it will be defined. (These sorts of things can also have different expressions in different parts of their domain).

If we denote this function by g(x), then from the positivity of square roots, we expect that g is a function defined on the interval of integration (at least) that satisfies:

i) (g(x)^2-x)^2=x - g(x)
ii) x < g(x)^2 < x + sqrt(x)

I believe that these conditions uniquely determine the function g on this interval, given by g(x)=(1+sqrt(4x-3))/2.

This function is straightforward to integrate and gives 127/6.


(Upon confirmation of this answer, I will post how I obtained that expression for g(x) later, but until then I won't ruin it for others. I rushed this calculation a bit so an inaccuracy would not surprise me.)
Correct.
 

seanieg89

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Re: MX2 2016 Integration Marathon

Cool, I will post my derivation of the expression for g(x) after my supervisor meeting tomorrow. Would like to take the time to explain it clearly.

The main idea though:

Check out the equation relating g(x) and x. It is quartic in g(x) but only quadratic in x.

This means we can write x fairly simply in terms of g(x). This ends up only being a quadratic polynomial in g(x) due to a pleasant cancellation.

We can then solve this quadratic for g(x) telling us what g(x) can be in terms of x. ("Can be" because solving the two quadratics leads to two independent plus-minus signs, and even if we were to narrow down these possibilities we are not guaranteed success, because we don't know that the solution g we are looking for exists a priori.)

Anyway, the two inequalities mentioned in my previous post actually force the choices of signs, and for these choices, the resulting function g(x)=(1+sqrt(4x-3))/2 satisfies the desired properties.
 

Paradoxica

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Re: MX2 2016 Integration Marathon

such inelegance

The integral can be split along the abscissae 1,2,4. Taking cases will then allow the resultant rational functions to be simplified.



Surely there must be a more elaborate means of computing this area.
 
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