Lecture Notes Partial Fractions page 6
3.
Z
x + 5
x
2
2x 3
dx
Solution: We factor the denominator: x
2
2x3 = (x + 1) (x 3). Next, we re-write the fraction
x + 5
x
2
2x 3
as a sum (or di¤erence) of fractions with denominators x + 1 and x 3. This means that we need to solve
for A and B in th e equation
A
x + 1
+
B
x 3
=
x + 5
x
2
2x 3
To simplify the left-hand side, we bring the fractions to the common denominator:
A (x 3)
(x + 1) (x 3)
+
B (x + 1)
(x 3) (x + 1)
=
Ax 3A + Bx + B
x
2
2x 3
=
(A + B) x 3A + B
x
2
2x 3
Thus
(A + B) x 3A + B
x
2
2x 3
=
x + 5
x
2
2x 3
We clear the denominators by multiplication
(A + B) x 3A + B = x + 5
The equation above is about two polynomials: they are equal to each other as fun ctions and so they must be
identical, coe¢ cint by coe¢ cient. This gives us an equation for each coe¢ cient, forming a system of linear
equations:
A + B = 1
3A + B = 5
We solve the system and obtain A = 1 and B = 2.
So we have that our fraction,
x + 5
x
2
2x 3
can be re-written as
1
x + 1
+
2
x 3
. We check:
1
x + 1
+
2
x 3
=
1 (x 3)
(x + 1) (x 3)
+
2 (x + 1)
(x 3) (x + 1)
=
(x 3) + 2 (x + 1)
(x + 1) (x 3)
=
x + 3 + 2x + 2
x
2
2x 3
=
x + 5
x
2
2x 3
Now we can easily integrate:
Z
x + 5
x
2
2x 3
dx =
Z
1
x + 1
+
2
x 3
dx =
Z
1
x + 1
dx + 2
Z
1
x 3
dx = ln jx + 1j + 2 ln jx 3j + C
Method 2: The values of A and B can be found using a slightly di¤erent me thod as follows. Consider …rst
the equation
A
x + 1
+
B
x 3
=
x + 5
x
2
2x 3
We bring the fractions to the common denominator:
A (x 3)
(x 3) (x + 1)
+
B (x + 1)
(x 3) (x + 1)
=
x + 5
x
2
2x 3
and then multiply both sides by the denominator:
A (x 3) + B (x + 1) = x + 5
The equation above is about two functions; the two sides must be e qual for all values of x. Let u s substitute
x = 3 into both sides:
A (0) + B (4) = 3 + 5
4B = 8
B = 2
c
copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2012 Last revised: February 24, 2013