UNIT REDUCTION FORMULAS

Structure
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Reduction Formula
12.3 Integrals Involving Trigonometric Functions
Reduction Formulas for \ sinnxdr and / cos"x dx

Reduction 'Formulas for I /

tan? dx and secnxdx
12.4 Integrals Involving Products of Trigonometric Functions 75
Integrand of the Type sinmxcos"x
Integrand of the Type en' sinnx
12.5 Integrals Involving Hyperbolic Functions 79
12.6 Summary 80
12.7 Solutions and Answers 81

In the first two units of this block we have introduced the concept of a definite integral
and have obtained the values of integrals of some standard forms. We have also studied
two important methods of evaluating iv.!,e.&ak,namely, the method of substitution and
the method of integration by parts. In t h & d ~ p i o of
n many physical or engineering
problems, we have to integrate some integiands involving powers or products of
trigonometric functions. In this unit we shall devise a quicker method for evaluating
these integrals. We shall consider some stan'dard forms of integrands one by one, and
derive formulas to integrate them.
The integrands which we will discuss here have one thing in common. They depend
upon an integer parameter. By using the method of integration by parts we shall try to
express such an integral in terms of another similar integral with a lower value of the
parameter. You will see that by the repeated use of this technique, we shall be able to
evaluate the given integral.

Objectives
After reading this unit you should be able to derive and apply the reduction formulas for

jsinnxdx , /cosnxdx, /tannxdx ,etc.

\sinmx eosnxdx

12.2 REDUCTION FORMULA

Sometimes the integrand is not only a function of the independent variable, but also

depends upon a number n (usually an integer). For example, in /sinnxdx, the integrand

f
i n n x depends on x and n. Similarly, in excosmx dx, the integrand exmsmx depends
on x and m. P,c numbsh n and m in these two examples are called parameters. We
-L-11 >: ----- --I-. :-* ---- ----- -4-- LA--
 Reduction ~nrmul&
On integrating by parts we sometimes obtain the value of the given integral in termsof
another similar integral in which the parameter has a smaller value. Thus, after a
number of steps we might arrive at an integrand which can be readily evaluated. Such
a process is called the method of successive reduction,and a formula connecting an
integral with parameter n to a similar integral with a lower value of the parameter, is
called a reduction formula. 'Ihrough a reduction formula we
duet the value of the parameter.
Definition I: A forn1ul:r ot the form

jr(s.n)dx = g(x) + jf(r.~)dx.

where k < n, is called a reduction formula.
the following ex;rmplc as an illustr:rtion.

Example I The integrand in /X~IC'JI depends on x and also on the parameter n which
is the exponent of x. [Link]

I
I,, = rne'dx.
Integrating this by parts, with sf'as the first function and ex as the second function
~ i v c 411s

I,, = snlr'd\ - /(n \"I ( c'dr)dx

-
- xfle' - n J xn-I
e'dx
Note that the integrand in the integral on the right hand side is similar to the one we
started with. The only difference is that the exponent of x is n- I. Or, we can sa) that
the exponent of x is reduced by 1. Thus. we can write
I,, = xne' - n I,,-, . .. .. . ...., .. (1)
The formula (1 ) is a reduction formula. Now suppose we want to evaluate 14, that is,

Ix4e'dx. Using (1) we can write I, = xJe' - 41,

= xJe' - 4 [x3e' - 312]using (1) for 13.
= xJeX- 4 x%' + 12 l2
= x4ex- 4 u"e' + 12x2ex- 24 I , , using (1) for I?
a= x4e' - 4 x'e' + 12x'eX - 24xeX+ 24 I,,.

NOWI,, = /x"exdx = jexdx = e x + c.

Thus, the method, of successive reduction gives us

in five simple steps. You must have noted that we were saved from having to integrate
I
by parts four times. This became possible because of formula (1). In this unit we shall
derive many such reduction formulas. .

These fall into three main categories according as the integrand

i) is a power of trigonometric functions.
ii) is a product of trigonometric functions, and
iii) involves hyperbolic functions.
We will take these up in the nexsthree sections.

12.3 INTEGRALS INVOLVING TRIGONOMETRIC

FUNCTIONS
There are many occasions when we have to integrate powers o&.$rigonometric
f..-ot;n-e 1- thir r ~ o t ; n n
SZJD rholl ; n r l ; ~ h
~n t
x s~r tn nrr\raerl in rnnr-h 0 - e n r
 Integral Calculus

I 12.3.1 Reduetion Formulas for ssinnxdx and Scosnxdx

In this sub-section we will consider integrandswhich are powers of either s ~ n xo r cosx.

Let's take a power of sinx first. For evaluating \sinnx dx. we write

I, = /sinnxdx = !sinn-' x S~IIr dx, if n> 1.

Taking sinn-'x as the first function and sin x as the second and integrating by parts,
\
we get
I, = -sinn-'x cosx - (n-I) lsinn-2x cos x (-cos x) dx

= -sinn-'r cosx + (n- I ) ]sinn-'x cos2x dx

!

= -sinn-'x cosx + (n - 1) ~ l s i n ~ (-I~-sin2x)

x dx]

= -sinn-'X cosx + (n- I ) [/sinn-'x dx - fsinnx dx]

= -sinn-'x cosx + (n- 1) [I,, - I,]
Hence,
I, + (n - 1) In = -sin"-'x cosx + (n- 1) In-,

That is, nI, = -sinn-'x cosx + (n-1) In-2. O r ,

For n = 1 1, = x cosx + -n -1I,-,

n n
\sin" x dx = lsinx dx
This is the reduction formula for isinnxdx (valid for n s 2). .
= -cosx +C
Example 2 We will now use the reduction formula for isinnxdx to evaluate the
n12

definite integral, sinsxdx. We first observe that

0

Let us now derive the reduction formula for J cosnxdx. Again, let us write

I, = Jcosnxdx = jcos'l x cosxdx, n > 1.

Integrating this integral by parts we get

I, = cosn-'x sin x - l(n-l)cosw2x (-sinx). sinxdx

= cos"x sin x + (n- 1) cosw2x sin%dx

= cosn-'x sin x + (n - 1) k o s w 2 x (1-cos2x)dx

 By rearranging the terms we get
cosn-'xsinx n- 1 +
In = kosnxdx =
n In-2

This formula is valid for n r 2. What happens when n = Oor I? You will agree that the
integral in each Ease is easy to evaluate.
.As we have observed in Example 2,
-12

Tinnxdx =- '-I l ~ i n " - ~ x d xn, 2 2.

0 0
Using this formula repeatedly we get
nl2

nl2 5-2 Isinxdx, if n is an odd number. n a 3.

0
nl2
0
n-1
-.-.-
n
n-3
n-2
n-5
n-4 ""'
2 .LJdx, if n is an even number, n 2 2.
0

This means
b!

We can reverse the order of the factors, and write this as

nl2

~ r ~ usimilarly
i n ~ for Imsnx<x we get
0

a12 2.4 - , i f n isodd,andn r 3

3 5 ""' n
o o -1 -3 . n-1 -w i .f n iseven, n 2 2.
2 4 ""' n 2
We are leaving the proof df this formula to you as an exercise.
See E 1).

73
2 4
...**
-
n- 1 ,if n isodd, n r 3
n
El) Prove that lmsnxdx
o 1 3 --
n-1 w , if n is even, n r 2.
7 7 ..... n 2
r
E.2) Evalusc a) I m ~ x d x . b) coPxdx, using the reduction formula
0

12.3.2 Reduction Formulas for S tannxdx and S secnxdx

In this sub-section we will take up two other trigonometric functions tanx and secx.
:

That is. we will derive the reduction formulas for 1tannxdx and 1secnxdx. T o derive a
1
reduction formula for tannxdx, n > 2, we start in a slightly different manner.
Insteadof writing tan" x = tanx t a n n - ' ~ ,as we did in thecase of sinnxand cosnx,we shall
write tannx = tann-'xtan'x. You will shortly see the reason behind this. So, we write

1, = Jtannxdx = Jtann-'x tan'x dx.

= jtann"x sec2x dx - I t a n n - fd r ... .. .. (2)

You must have observed that the second integral on the right hand side is
Now in the first integral on the right hand side, the intigrand is of the form
[f(x)lrn. f'(x)
As we have seen in Unit 11.

n- 1
-
Thus, Jtany2x sec'xdx = tann-'x +
 Reduction Furmuls

71-hu*thc reduction Glrnlul;~li,r tanllx dx i i 1 You must have now rcaliscd uh?
we wrote
tannx = ran'x rann-%

formula for jrecnxdx (n > 1).we first write

To derive the reductio~~
SeCllX -
= , C C ~ l - zY (ec-s. and then integrate by parth. Thus,

- secll-'x tan x - (n-2) /scc"~'s (sec'x- 1 ) d s

-
- s,,cl.-l
x tan s - (n-2) (I,, - I,, _,)
After rearranging the tcrms wc get t
SeC'~1-2 x t a n s n-2
/srrnxds = I,. =
n- 1 , +- - 1 111-2
tor jt:lnnr ds and 1 srcnr dx are valid for n > 2. For n = 0. I and 2. the
Thesc fornluli~~

integrals jtanl'x dx and 1sec"xdx can be easily evaluated. You have come across them
iti Units 10 and 1 1

Exiunplc3 Let's calculate i) tan'x dx and ii) bccbx dx

II (I

'
il
ni'

ftanir dx
11
= -T tan's
],)
7ri-1

-
"1'

1 l a d s dx

nil

- -1 - -1+
4 2 j- sinx dx
cosx
nil
- - - Ij - ~ n ( c o s x ) ]
1'.

nl4

ii) jsecOxdx =
0
secJx tanx
5 1,)+ 4
rill "I4

hec'xdx , '

4
= -
3
+ -158 tanx 28
Integral Calculus
F.3) Derive the following reduction formulas for jcotnxdx and jcosecnxdx:

a) jootn xdx = I, =-
- - I cotn-lx
n-1
- I,-,

b) jcosecnxdx = I,, = - c ~ s e c ~ -cot

~ xx + n-2
n- I n - 2 In-2

E4) Evaluate
 ReductionFormulas
12.4 INTEGRALS INVOLVING PRODUCTS OF
TRIGONOMETRIC FUNCTIONS
In the last section we have seen the reduction formulas for the case where integrands
were powers of a single trigonometric function. Here we shall consider some integrands
involving products of powers of trigonometric functions. The technique of finding a
reduction formula basically involves integration by parts. Since there can be more than
one way of writing the integrand as a product of two functions, you will see that we can
have many reduction formulas for the same integral. We start with the first one of the
two types of integrands which we shall study in this section.

12.4.1 Integrand of the Type sinmxcosnx

The function sinmxcosnxdepends on two parameters m and n. T o find a reduction

formula for /sinmx cosnxdx, let us first write

Since we have two parameters here, we shall take a reduction formula to mean a
formula connecting I,,, and Ip,q,where either p < m, or q < n, or both p < m, q < n
hold. In others words, the value of at least one parameter should be reduced.

:-I* k
pit Hence we assume that n > 1. Now,

1m.n = lsinmx cosnx dx = Icos*'x (sinmxcosx) dx

Integrating by parts we get

Therefore,

I,,, +
n-1 . -
--m+n
Im,nm+l
I
m.n
= cosn-lx sinm+'x
m+l
+ n-1
+1 Im ,n-2

This gives us,

+
But, surely this formula will not work if m n = 0. So, what do we do if m + n = O? Remember we have taken n > l ?
Actually we have a simple way out. If m + n = 0, then since n is positive,
we write m = -n.

Hence I - , , = /sin-"x cosnxdx = Icotnxdx, which is easy to evaluate using the

reduction formula derived in Sec. 3 (See E2)).

T o obtain formula (3) we had started with the assumption that n > 1.
Instead of this, if we assume that m > 1, we can write

Im." = /sinmx cosnxdx = /sinm-'x(cosnx sin x) dx. Integrating this by parts we get
- -sinm-lx cosn+lx - (m- l ) [sinm-2 (-cosn+lx)
1m.n - - 1 1 xcosx - - dxfornf-I
- -

Integral Cakulus

From this we obtain

- - ~ i n ~ - I x c o s ~ ++~ xm-1 (Im-2.n)
1m.n - ,+, ........ (4)
m+n
If m or n is a positive odd integer, we can proceed as follows :
Suppose n = 2p + I , p > 0, then

1m.n = lsinmxcos2P+'x dx = lsinmx (I-sin2x)P cosx dx

= I t m (1 -t2)p dt if we put t = sin x.

Expanding (1-t21P by binomial theorem and integrating term by term, we get

If m and n are positive integers, by repeated applications of formula (3) o r formula (4),
we keep reducing n or m by 2 at each step. Thus, eventually, we come to an integral of
,,
the form I or I,., or 11,, or I,,*,. In the previous section we have seen how these can
be evaluated. This means we should be able to evaluate I,,, in a finite number of steps.
We shall now look at an example to see how these formulas are used.
nl2

E r a m p k 4 Let usevaluate lsin4x cos6x dx. Here m = 4 and n = 6. Since m is the

0
smaller of the two, we shall employ formula (4) which reduces m at each step.

using formula (4) again.

- -3 x
80 96
( f r o m ~ 2 ) b ) )= $
Are you ready to solve some exercises now?

E E5) In deriving formula (4) we had assumed that m> 1. How would you evaluate, I,,,,
if m = I ?
 Reduction~ o i h u l a s

E E6) Formulas (3) and (4) fail when m+n = 0. We have seen how to evaluate I,,, if
m+n = 0 and n is a positive integer. How would you evaluate it if m+n = 0 and n
I
I
- -
is a negative integer?
- - -

E E7) Evaluate

12.4.2 Integrand of the Type eaxsin"x

In this sub-section we will consider the evaluation of those integrals, where the
P
integrand is a product of a power of a trigonometric function and an exponential
r',
function. That is, we win consider inregrands of the type ea*[Link] us denote

by L,, and integrate it by parts, taking rinnx as the first function and eU as
~eaxsinnxdx
the second function. This gives us

We shall now evaluate the integral on the right hand side, again by parts, with
sinn-'x cosx as the first function and eaxasthe second one. Thus,

. a a l a
a ' , ,'" A
,
"
' "

Thismeans .
L , = , eaxsinnx
-
- neaxsinn-'x cosx + "("-1) n2
Ln-2 - 7L n
intrgrai Calculus Rearranging the terms we get

L, = aeaxsinnx - neaxsinn-lx cosx + n(n 3)

n2+ a2 n2+a2 n2+a2 Ln-2a

Given any L,, we use this reduction formula repeatedly, till we get L, or Lo (depending
on whether n is odd or even). Since L1 and Loare easy to evaluate, we are sure you can
evaluate them yourself. (See E 8)). This means that L, can be evaluated for any
positive integer n.

Remark I if we put a = 0 in L,; it reduces lo the integral isinnxdx. This suggests that

the reduction formula for jsinnxdx which we have derived in Sec. 3 is a special case of
the reduction formula for L,.

If you have followed the arguments in this sub-section closely, you should be able to do
the exercises below.
E E8) Prove that
E E9) Prove : If C, =]eaxcosnxdx, then

E10) Verify that the reduction formula for cosnxdx is a special case of the
formula in E9).

12.5 INTEGRALS INVOLVING HYPERBOLIC

FUNCTIONS

, In this section we shall discuss the evaluation of integrals of the type jsinhnxdx,

Jcoshnxdx, etc.
Actually, you will find that the evaluation of these integrals does not involve any new
techniques. In fact, the procedure we follow here isvery similar to the one we followed

for integrating sinnx,cosnx etc. Let US find the reduction formula for, say, jtanhnxdx.
We are sure you will be abie to follow this easily and derive the reduction formulas for
the other hyperbolic functions (see E l l ) ).

If I, = Itanhnxdx, we can write

I, = ItanhnP2xtanh2x dx
-
d unhx = sec h2x
dx

= Itanhn-2x (1 -sech2x)dx
Integral Calculus

Don't you agree that the above method is similar to the one adopted for /tannr dx?
The following exercises can be easily done now.

E E l l ) Prove the following reduction formula:

Isinhnxdx = sinhn-lx coshx n- 1 \sinhn-2x dx

n n

E E12) Derive a reduction formula for \coshnxdx '

That brings w t o the end of this unit. We shail now s u m a r i s e what we have covered
in it.

12.6 SUMMARY
A reduction formula is one which links an [Link] dependent on a parameter with a
similar integral with a lower value of the parameter.
In this unit we have derived a number of reduction formulas.

1 /[Link] = xnex- n \xn-'ex dx

 Rrduction Fornlulao
5 !secnxdx =
~ e c ' l - ~tanx
n-1
x n-2
n- 1
isecn 2x dx, >2

6
n
2
n
2
Isinnx dx = Icosnxdx =
24
3 5 ""'
'-'
-, i f n i s o d d , n h 3 .
n
1-
- 3 - x,if n is even, n 2 2.
0 0 2 4 ""' n 2

'

We have noted that the prime technique of deriving reduction formulas involves
integration by parts. We have also observed that many more reduction formulas
itlvolving other trigonometric and hyperbolic functions can be derived using the same
technique.

12.7 SOLUTIONS AND ANSWERS

n/2 n/7

E 1) w e have Icosnx dx = xdx, n 2 2

0
n

n n-2 n-4
24 -1
2
~ c o s 0 x d xif. n is even
- ""'
0
Integral Calculus
Therefore, Ill = - 111-2
n- 1

-
- - c ~ s e c ~ - cotx
~ x - /(n-2) ~ w c ~ - ~ x c dx
ot~x

-
- - c ~ s e c " - ~ xcotx - (n-2)/c0sec"-~x (cosec2x- 1) dx

n12

/
.
E 4) a) cosec'x dx = -cosecxcotx
n14
2
]
nlZ

n14
+ + j4 n12

cosecx dx

- -- + -1 (In I - In tan f)
JZ . 2
- 1 ' l' In tan z-
,fi 2 8
nl2
b) JsinxXdx = 1.J.l.l. 357~
n= -
0
8 6 4 2 2 256

E5) ifrn=l,I,.,=I,,, = Jsin x cosnxdx

E 6) m + n = 0 =s- n = -m + m is a positive integer.

' 11,.n = lsinmxcos-"xdx = Je
dx =Jtanm
COS~X X ~ X

Now use the formula for tanmxdx

-12

= 2 -2 -
Jsinxcos5x dx = - cos" - 1
0
8 6 24
 eaxsinx - -
sinx d x = -
a a leaxcosxdx

-
--
eax
(asirix - cosx) + c
1 +a2

- eaXcosnx +
- fl xsinx +
a a

- eaXcosnx +
a
4 e a ~ C O S n - I xsinx +
a-

E 10) Puf a =0 in t h e formula for C,.

which is t h e reduction formula for l c o s n x d x

= sinhn- Ix coshx - (n- 1) lsinhn--'x cosh2x d x

= sinhn-'x coshx - (n- 1 ) lsinhn-'x (1 t s i n h 2 x ) d x

-
-
sinhn-lx coshx - (n-1) In-2 - (n-l)Il1

I, = l c o s h n x d x = l c o s h n l x coshx d x

coshn- lx sin hx - (n- I ) lcoshn-'x sinh2x d x

-
=

= c o s h n l x sinhx (n- 1) /coshn-'x (cosh2x--1) d x

= coshn-Ix sinhx - I n - I)I,, + (n- 1)ln-,
I, = coshn-lxsinhx. + n- 1
n .-
I,,-,