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Exercise 7.3 · Q16

Q.Integrate the following function: tan⁡4x\tan^4 x

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The key idea is to rewrite tan⁡4x\tan^4 x as tan⁡2x(sec⁡2x−1)\tan^2 x (\sec^2 x - 1) and then use the substitution u=tan⁡xu = \tan x, which turns the integral into a simple polynomial. The final result is 13tan⁡3x−tan⁡x+x+C\frac{1}{3}\tan^3 x - \tan x + x + C.

Why this approach works

When you see a high power of tan⁡x\tan x, the natural reflex is to look for a way to reduce it. The identity tan⁡2x=sec⁡2x−1\tan^2 x = \sec^2 x - 1 is your best friend here, because sec⁡2x\sec^2 x is the derivative of tan⁡x\tan x. That means if you can peel off one factor of tan⁡2x\tan^2 x and rewrite it as sec⁡2x−1\sec^2 x - 1, the remaining expression becomes something you can integrate by substituting u=tan⁡xu = \tan x.

The trick is to do this repeatedly until you're left with only powers of tan⁡x\tan x and a single sec⁡2x\sec^2 x factor to absorb into the differential.

Step-by-step solution

  1. Rewrite the integrand using the identity. Start with tan⁡4x=tan⁡2x⋅tan⁡2x\tan^4 x = \tan^2 x \cdot \tan^2 x. Replace one tan⁡2x\tan^2 x with sec⁡2x−1\sec^2 x - 1:

tan⁡4x=tan⁡2x(sec⁡2x−1)=tan⁡2xsec⁡2x−tan⁡2x.\tan^4 x = \tan^2 x (\sec^2 x - 1) = \tan^2 x \sec^2 x - \tan^2 x.

  1. Handle the tan⁡2x\tan^2 x term similarly. The second term, −tan⁡2x-\tan^2 x, can be rewritten again using the same identity:

−tan⁡2x=−(sec⁡2x−1)=−sec⁡2x+1.-\tan^2 x = -(\sec^2 x - 1) = -\sec^2 x + 1.

So the whole integrand becomes:

tan⁡4x=tan⁡2xsec⁡2x−sec⁡2x+1.\tan^4 x = \tan^2 x \sec^2 x - \sec^2 x + 1.

  1. Set up the substitution. Let u=tan⁡xu = \tan x. Then du=sec⁡2x dxdu = \sec^2 x \, dx. This is perfect because we have a sec⁡2x\sec^2 x factor sitting next to tan⁡2x\tan^2 x in the first term. The integral splits into three parts:

∫tan⁡4x dx=∫tan⁡2xsec⁡2x dx−∫sec⁡2x dx+∫1 dx.\int \tan^4 x \, dx = \int \tan^2 x \sec^2 x \, dx - \int \sec^2 x \, dx + \int 1 \, dx.

  1. Integrate each term.
    • For the first term: ∫tan⁡2xsec⁡2x dx=∫u2 du=13u3=13tan⁡3x\int \tan^2 x \sec^2 x \, dx = \int u^2 \, du = \frac{1}{3} u^3 = \frac{1}{3} \tan^3 x. …

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