Mistake Master

Integrating Using Integration by Parts BC only

Integrating both sides of the product rule and rearranging gives $\int u\,dv = uv - \int v\,du$, where the minus sign is what moving a term across produced and is not optional. The formula evaluates nothing; it trades one integral for another, so the choice of $u$ and $dv$ is the whole method. Pick $u$ so that differentiating it simplifies, and $dv$ so that you can actually integrate it: for $\int x e^{x}dx$, $u = x$ gives $xe^{x} - e^{x} + C$, while $u = e^{x}$ produces a new integral carrying $x^{2}$, which is a verdict on the choice rather than on the method. LIATE orders the usual candidates for $u$, and $\int \ln x\,dx$ works by taking $dv = dx$.

When $u$ is a higher power, parts is applied repeatedly, and the two failures are stopping with an integral sign still in the answer and losing the bracket so the leading coefficient reaches only the first term. If the original integral reappears, as it does for $\int e^{x}\sin x\,dx$, solve for it algebraically. With limits attached, the boundary term is evaluated at both ends and becomes a number while the remaining integral keeps the same limits, so $\int_{0}^{1} xe^{x}dx = (e - 0) - (e - 1) = 1$.

INTEGRATION BY PARTS IS THE PRODUCT RULE, REARRANGED. d/dx (uv) = u′v + uv′ INTEGRATE BOTH SIDES: uv = ∫ u′v dx + ∫ uv′ dx REARRANGE: ∫ u dv = uv − ∫ v du THE MINUS SIGN IS NOT OPTIONAL. IT COMES FROM MOVING A TERM ACROSS. THE NEW INTEGRAL MUST BE EASIER THAN THE OLD ONE, OR THE CHOICE WAS WRONG. u IS DIFFERENTIATED. dv IS INTEGRATED. PICK ACCORDINGLY. ∫ x e^x dx: u = x, dv = e^x dx, AND THE x DISAPPEARS.
Every line on the left is an equation you could have written in Unit 2. The formula is not a new fact about integrals; it is the product rule with one term moved.
TWO CHOICES FOR ∫ x e^x dx. ONE OF THEM GETS WORSE. u = x, dv = e^x dx du = dx, v = e^x x e^x − ∫ e^x dx NEW INTEGRAL IS EASIER = x e^x − e^x + C u = e^x, dv = x dx du = e^x dx, v = x²/2 x²e^x/2 − ∫ x²e^x/2 dx NEW INTEGRAL IS WORSE NO PROGRESS AT ALL THE POWER OF x WENT UP INSTEAD OF DOWN. PICK u SO THAT DIFFERENTIATING IT SIMPLIFIES THINGS. AND PICK dv SO THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY INTEGRATE IT. A WORSE INTEGRAL CONDEMNS THE CHOICE, NOT THE METHOD.
Both columns are correct applications of the same formula. Only one of them makes progress, which is why the choice is the skill and the formula is not.

The work

3 ways in · any order
Lesson
Integrating Using Integration by Parts

Derives the parts formula by integrating the product rule, sets the two conditions a good choice of u and dv must meet and shows the bad choice failing on the same integral, carries the minus sign and the bracket through a repeated application, solves the circular case algebraically, and evaluates the boundary term of a definite integral in place.

Skill check · 10 scenarios
Diagnostic
10-item topic check

Ten items on the choice of u and dv and on the bookkeeping around it: choices that produce a harder integral than the original, the sign in the formula, repeated applications stopped too early or expanded without a bracket, and boundary terms in definite integrals.

Not yet available · 10 items
Targeted Practice
Drill a single misconception

Pick one of the failure modes you missed and drill it on its own. The round is adaptive: two correct in a row clears the misconception and moves you to the next.

Take the diagnostic to identify your misconceptions