In mathematics, a quadratic integral is an integral of the form
{\displaystyle \int {\frac {dx}{a+bx+cx^{2}}}.}
It can be evaluated by completing the square in the denominator.
{\displaystyle \int {\frac {dx}{a+bx+cx^{2}}}={\frac {1}{c}}\int {\frac {dx}{\left(x+{\frac {b}{2c}}\right)^{\!2}+\left({\frac {a}{c}}-{\frac {b^{2}}{4c^{2}}}\right)}}.}
Assume that the discriminant q = b2 − 4ac is positive.
In that case, define u and A by
The quadratic integral can now be written as
{\displaystyle \int {\frac {dx}{a+bx+cx^{2}}}={\frac {1}{c}}\int {\frac {du}{u^{2}-A^{2}}}={\frac {1}{c}}\int {\frac {du}{(u+A)(u-A)}}.}
The partial fraction decomposition
{\displaystyle {\frac {1}{(u+A)(u-A)}}={\frac {1}{2A}}\!\left({\frac {1}{u-A}}-{\frac {1}{u+A}}\right)}
allows us to evaluate the integral:
ln
constant
{\displaystyle {\frac {1}{c}}\int {\frac {du}{(u+A)(u-A)}}={\frac {1}{2Ac}}\ln \left({\frac {u-A}{u+A}}\right)+{\text{constant}}.}
The final result for the original integral, under the assumption that q > 0, is
ln
constant
{\displaystyle \int {\frac {dx}{a+bx+cx^{2}}}={\frac {1}{\sqrt {q}}}\ln \left({\frac {2cx+b-{\sqrt {q}}}{2cx+b+{\sqrt {q}}}}\right)+{\text{constant}}.}
In case the discriminant q = b2 − 4ac is negative, the second term in the denominator in
{\displaystyle \int {\frac {dx}{a+bx+cx^{2}}}={\frac {1}{c}}\int {\frac {dx}{\left(x+{\frac {b}{2c}}\right)^{\!2}+\left({\frac {a}{c}}-{\frac {b^{2}}{4c^{2}}}\right)}}.}
is positive.
Then the integral becomes
arctan ( w ) +
arctan
constant
arctan
constant
arctan
constant
{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\frac {1}{c}}\int {\frac {du}{u^{2}+A^{2}}}&={\frac {1}{cA}}\int {\frac {du/A}{(u/A)^{2}+1}}\\[9pt]&={\frac {1}{cA}}\int {\frac {dw}{w^{2}+1}}\\[9pt]&={\frac {1}{cA}}\arctan(w)+\mathrm {constant} \\[9pt]&={\frac {1}{cA}}\arctan \left({\frac {u}{A}}\right)+{\text{constant}}\\[9pt]&={\frac {1}{c{\sqrt {{\frac {a}{c}}-{\frac {b^{2}}{4c^{2}}}}}}}\arctan \left({\frac {x+{\frac {b}{2c}}}{\sqrt {{\frac {a}{c}}-{\frac {b^{2}}{4c^{2}}}}}}\right)+{\text{constant}}\\[9pt]&={\frac {2}{\sqrt {4ac-b^{2}\,}}}\arctan \left({\frac {2cx+b}{\sqrt {4ac-b^{2}}}}\right)+{\text{constant}}.\end{aligned}}}