Trigonometric Substitutions

Math 121 Calculus II

D Joyce, Spring 2013

Now that we have trig functions and their inverses, we can use trig subs. They’re special
kinds of substitution that involves these functions. For these, you start out with an integral
that doesn’t have any trig functions in them, but you introduce trig functions to evaluate the
integrals. These depend on knowing

(1) the Pythagorean identities

sin2 θ + cos2 θ = 1 sec2 θ = 1 + tan2 θ
(2) the definitions
sin θ 1
tan θ = sec θ =
cos θ cos θ
(3) the derivatives
(sin θ)0 = cos θ (cos θ)0 = − sin θ
(tan θ)0 = sec2 θ (sec θ)0 = sec θ tan θ

There are three kinds

√ of trig subs.
√ You use√them when you see as part of the integrand
one of the expressions a2 − x2 , a2 + x2 , or x2 − a2 , where a is some constant. In each
kind you substitute for x a certain trig function of a new variable θ. The substitution will
simplify the integrand since it will eliminate the square root. Here’s a table summarizing the
substitution to make in each of the three kinds.

If use see use the sub so that and

√ √
a2 − x 2 x = a sin θ dx = a cos θ dθ a2 − x2 = a cos θ
√ √
a2 + x 2 x = a tan θ dx = a sec2 θ dθ a2 + x2 = a sec θ
√ √
x 2 − a2 x = a sec θ dx = a sec θ tan θ dθ x2 − a2 = a tan θ

In each line, the last entry follows from the second entry by one of the Pythagorean identities.
There are also right triangles you can draw to make the connections between x, a, and θ.
The three triangles below refer to the three trig subs, respectively.

  
 √  
√
 2 2
 
a  a +x x 
 x 
 x  x 2 − a2
  
  
θ θ θ
 √  
a2 − x 2 a a

1
 We’ll look at three examples to illustrate these trig subs.
Example 1. The area of a circle. We can finally show that the area of a circle of radius
r is πr2 . Let’s set our coordinates so that the center of the circle is at the origin, (0, 0). Then
the points on the circumference of the circle are at distance r from the origin, √ so the equation
of the circle is x2 + y 2 = r2 . The upper√semicircle has the equation y = r2 − x2 and the
lower semicircle has the equation y = − r2 − x2 .

Therefore, the area of the circle is given by the integral

Z r √ √ Z r √
2 2 2 2
( r − x − (− r − x )) dx = 2 r2 − x2 dx.
−r −r
√
Because the expression r2 − x2√appears in the integral, we’ll try the first trig sub with
x = r sin θ, dx = r cos θ dθ, and r2 − x2 = r cos θ. Note that at the limits of integration
x = ±r, so sin θ = ±1, and θ = ± π2 . Therefore, the integral becomes
Z π/2
2r2 cos2 θ dθ.
−π/2

We recently found that an antiderivative of cos2 θ is 21 θ + 14 sin 2θ, so that last integral equals
π/2
= 2r2 ( 12 π2 − 0) − 2r2 ( 12 −π
1 1

2r2 ( 2 θ + 4 sin 2θ) 2
− 0) = πr2 . Thus, we’ve shown that the
−π/2
area of a circle of radius r is πr2 .
Example 2. The arclength of a parabola. We’ve seen how the length of a curve given
by the equation y = f (x) for a ≤ x ≤ b is equal to the integral
Z bp
L= 1 + (f 0 (x))2 dx.
a

Let’s apply that to find the length of the parabola y = 12 x2 for 0 ≤ x ≤ 1.

2
Since the derivative of f (x) = 12 x2 is x, the length is
Z 1 √
L= 1 + x2 dx.
0
√
We’ll use the trig sub of the second kind with x = tan θ, dx = sec2 θ dθ, and 1 + x2 = sec θ.
Then the integral becomes
Z π/4
L= sec3 θ dθ.
0

It takes an application of integration by parts to find that an antiderivative of sec3 θ is

1
2
sec θ tan θ + 21 ln | sec θ + tan θ|. Given that, we find
  π/4
1 1 
L = sec θ tan θ + ln | sec θ + tan θ| 
2 2 
θ=0
1 π π 1  π π 
= sec tan + ln sec + tan 
2 4 4 2 4 4
1√ 1 √
= 2 + ln( 2 + 1)
2 2
Thus, the length of this arc of the parabola is about 1.1478.
Z 3r
4
Example 3. Consider the integral I = 1 − 2 dx.
2 x

We can rewrite it as √
3
x2 − 4
Z
I= dx
2 x

3
and
√ see that the third kind of trig sub applies. We’ll let x = 2 sec θ, dx = 2 sec θ tan θ dθ, and
x2 − 4 = 2 tan θ. Then the integral becomes
Z β Z β
2 tan θ
I= 2 sec θ tan θ dθ = 2 tan2 θ dθ
0 2 sec θ 0

where the upper limit of integration β is such that cos β = 23 , that is, β = arccos 23 = 0.84107.
We can use the Pythagorean identity sec2 θ = 1 + tan2 θ to rewrite the integrand in a form
we can integrate.
Z β
I = 2(sec2 θ − 1) dθ
0
β

= (2 tan θ − 2θ) 
θ=0
= 2 tan β − 2β
p √
2 sin β 1 − 4/9 5 √
Note that cos β = 3 , so tan β = = = . Thus, I = 5 − 2 arccos 32 .
cos β 2/3 2

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