Integral of:

__1__
(sqrt(x)+1)^2 dx

The answer is:

2ln abs(1+sqrt(x)) + 2(1+sqrt(X))^-1 +c

I have no clue why that is! Please help.

I used substitution and made u= sqrt(x)+1

but i don't know what happened along the way!

Your first step was a good one.
next, let u = sqrt x + 1
Then sqrt x = u-1
x = u^2 - u + 1
dx = 2u du - du
Therefore the integral becomes
(Integral of) (2/u) du - 2/u^2 du
= 2 ln u + 2/u +c
Finally, substitute sqrt x +1 for u

When you use substitution, both the integrand (f(x)) and the differential (dx) must be changed.

thank you so very very much!

I made a mistake with two lines, bit it came out OK.
I should have written
x = u^2 - 2u + 1
dx = 2u du - 2 du

No problem! Mistakes happen, and it's great that you caught it. Let's correct it together.

Starting with your substitution u = sqrt(x) + 1, we have:

sqrt(x) = u - 1
x = (u - 1)^2
dx = 2(u - 1) du

Substituting these back into the integral, we get:

∫(1 / (sqrt(x) + 1)^2) dx
= ∫(1 / (u)^2) (2(u - 1) du)
= ∫(2(u - 1) / u^2) du
= 2∫((u - 1) / u^2) du

Now we can split this integral into two parts:

2∫(u/u^2) du - 2∫(1/u^2) du

The first integral simplifies to:

2∫(1/u) du = 2 ln|u| + C

The second integral simplifies to:

-2∫(1/u^2) du = -2u^(-1) - 2C = -2/u - 2C

Putting it all together, we get:

2 ln|u| - 2/u + C

Finally, substitute back u = sqrt(x) + 1:

2 ln|sqrt(x) + 1| - 2/(sqrt(x) + 1) + C

And there you have it! The integral of (sqrt(x) + 1)^2 is 2 ln|sqrt(x) + 1| - 2/(sqrt(x) + 1) + C.