Trigonometric integration without trigonometric functions

Abstract

Teaching techniques of integration can be tedious and often uninspired. We present an obvious but underutilized approach for finding antiderivatives of various trigonometric functions using the complex exponential representation of the sine and cosine. The purpose goes beyond providing students an alternative approach to trigonometric integrals. It introduces a framework in which students can better understand more advanced mathematical ideas such as the inverse Laplace transform and also affords an opportunity to work with detailed algebraic manipulations involving the binomial expansion.