Integrals giving inverse trig functions
Problem 4.956 · medium
Evaluate \( \displaystyle \int_{-4}^{6} \frac{2}{x^{2} - 2 x + 26}\, dx \).
- \[ x^{2} - 2 x + 26 = \left(x - 1\right)^{2} + 25 \]Complete the square.✓ Proved
- With u = x − 1 and a = 5, this is c·∫ du/(u² + a²)
- \[ \frac{d}{d x} \frac{2 \operatorname{atan}{\left(\frac{x}{5} - \frac{1}{5} \right)}}{5} = \frac{2}{x^{2} - 2 x + 26} \]An antiderivative is 2*atan(x/5 - 1/5)/5; differentiate to confirm.✓ Proved
- \[ \frac{\pi}{5} \]Evaluate between the limits.✓ Proved
Answer \( \frac{\pi}{5} \)
Lines: 3 proved, 1 not checked. The answer was also checked a second way, without looking at the solution. The reviewers disagree about how one step is explained; every verdict is in the receipt.
The full receipt
| Line | Status | Checked by | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ✓ Proved | sympy 1.14.0 | simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0 |
| 2 | Not checked | — | a sentence; read, not computed |
| 3 | ✓ Proved | sympy 1.14.0 | simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0 |
| 4 | ✓ Proved | sympy 1.14.0 | simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0 |
| answer, a second way | ✓ Checked independently | sympy 1.14.0 + mpmath 1.3.0 | numerical quadrature |
Reviewers
gpt-oss:20b: fail (error) — Sentence 2 incorrectly states the transformed integral as c·∫du/(u²+a²) without specifying the constant factor. The correct form is 2∫du/(u²+25), so the setup omits the necessary coefficient, leading to an incomplete description of the integral.qwen3.6:27b-mlx: pass — The solution correctly completes the square, identifies the standard arctangent integral form, verifies the antiderivative, and computes the definite integral correctly.
Every verdict on record (4)
gpt-oss:20b: fail (error) 2026-10-12 — Sentence 2 incorrectly states the transformed integral as c·∫du/(u²+a²) without specifying the constant factor. The correct form is 2∫du/(u²+25), so the setup omits the necessary coefficient, leading to an incomplete description of the integral.qwen3.6:27b-mlx: pass 2026-10-12 — The solution correctly completes the square, identifies the standard arctangent integral form, verifies the antiderivative, and computes the definite integral correctly.gpt-oss:20b: pass 2026-10-12qwen3.6:27b-mlx: pass 2026-10-12 — The solution correctly completes the square, identifies the standard arctangent integral form, and evaluates the definite integral to the correct result.
Proved: SymPy reduced the difference between the two sides to zero. Checked independently: a separate
method, named above, confirmed it. Checked numerically: the two sides agree at every sampled point, which is evidence,
not proof. Reviewed: a model or a person read it; that is all a sentence can have. Solution by
generator:structured/inverse_trig_integral, checked 2026-10-12 with SymPy 1.14.0.