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I am asked to evaluate the integral by hand. I do not know how to start

$$\int_0^4\int_x^4\int_0^y\frac{6}{1 + 48z - z^3}\, dz\, dy\, dx$$

Note: This is a homework question. Explicit permission to seek help from others is given.

I do not see a suitable $u$-sub nor can I factor out $z$ for an easier integral.

Changing the order of integration does not seem to help either (i.e., to $dy\, dz\, dx$).

Even WolframAlpha can only show it is approximately equal to $4.859\,81$.

Symbolab says steps are not supported for this type of question.

1 Answers1

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Let $\mathcal{I}$ denote the value of the triple integral,

$$\mathcal{I}:=\int_{0}^{4}\mathrm{d}x\int_{x}^{4}\mathrm{d}y\int_{0}^{y}\mathrm{d}z\,\frac{6}{1+48z-z^{3}}.$$


Having a cubic function with non-nice roots in the denominator of the integrand usually guarantees you an algebraically induced headache if you attempt to solve the integral by brute force. Since this is a homework problem, and assuming your professor isn't an outright sadist, you can expect there to be some trick to solving the integral with a lot less effort.

Sure enough, by changing the order of integration, we can easily reduce the triple integral to a single-variable integral:

$$\begin{align} \mathcal{I} &=\int_{0}^{4}\mathrm{d}x\int_{x}^{4}\mathrm{d}y\int_{0}^{y}\mathrm{d}z\,\frac{6}{1+48z-z^{3}}\\ &=\int_{0}^{4}\mathrm{d}y\int_{0}^{y}\mathrm{d}x\int_{0}^{y}\mathrm{d}z\,\frac{6}{1+48z-z^{3}}\\ &=\int_{0}^{4}\mathrm{d}y\int_{0}^{y}\mathrm{d}z\int_{0}^{y}\mathrm{d}x\,\frac{6}{1+48z-z^{3}}\\ &=\int_{0}^{4}\mathrm{d}y\int_{0}^{y}\mathrm{d}z\,\frac{6y}{1+48z-z^{3}}\\ &=\int_{0}^{4}\mathrm{d}z\int_{z}^{4}\mathrm{d}y\,\frac{6y}{1+48z-z^{3}}\\ &=\int_{0}^{4}\mathrm{d}z\,\frac{48-3z^{2}}{1+48z-z^{3}}\\ &=\int_{1}^{129}\mathrm{d}u\,\frac{1}{u};~~~\small{1+48z-z^{3}=u}\\ &=\ln{\left(129\right)}.\blacksquare\\ \end{align}$$


David H
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  • I see know resin why this answer should have no upvotes :/ It doesn’t seem to be erroneous (though I’m not well-versed in triple integrals)… – gen-ℤ ready to perish Nov 26 '17 at 04:32
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    @otqdmuos It's just a convenient alternative notation for writing iterated integrals. It allows you to clearly identify at a glance which integral sign & bounds go with which differential, among other things. For some reason, it is quite popular among physicists, but not as much among the pure mathematicians. You might read more about this convention here: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/387572/notation-why-write-the-differential-first?noredirect=1&lq=1 . – David H Nov 26 '17 at 05:12