# Should students be taught that $\int dx/x = \log(|x|)$? [closed]

I think in precalculus students should be taught the following:

1. Euler's identity for $e^{i \theta}$.
2. The principal value of $log(x)$ for $x<0$.

Then in Calculus they should be taught that
$\int dx/x = \log(x)+C$ instead of $\log|x|+C$.

Likewise, teach them that
$\int dx \tan(x) = -\log(\cos(x))+C$

and so on. I don't think that would be too advanced. The advantage would be, that, what they learn will be consistent with what some will learn at a later date in complex analysis. Perhaps more important, students would get the expected answer from tools such as Wolfram Alpha and Mathematica. Any thoughts?

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## closed as not a real question by leonbloy, Henning Makholm, Rahul, mixedmath♦, Jyrki Lahtonen♦Jun 13 '12 at 11:38

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, visit the help center.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

"If your motivation for asking the question is “I would like to participate in a discussion about ______”, then you should not be asking here." --faq. – Henning Makholm Jun 13 '12 at 11:25
Not all students will, sadly, ever take complex analysis. As they encounter this question for the first time in a calculus course, for their sake I vote for keeping the absolute values in place. The point about Mathematic/WA doing something is Wolfram's problem, not ours. For example, my version of Mathematica (outdated ver 3.0) gives $$\int_{-2}^{-a}\frac{1}x\,dx=-\pi i-\ln 2+\ln(-a).$$ Is this really the ideal we should aim at? – Jyrki Lahtonen Jun 13 '12 at 11:28
I don't see how this question can get answered like others on this site. – Doug Spoonwood Jun 13 '12 at 11:28
I don't like the $\log |x|$ answer, but it is a fact that the student who learned $\log |x|$ in school make much less mistakes later than those who learned $\log x$ and remain totally unaware that there is a problem here. – Phira Jun 13 '12 at 14:20

Though I'd beg to differ about $\log|x|$ vs $\log(x)$. If anything they should be taught that the general antiderivative is
$\log(x)+C_1, x>0$
$\log(-x)+C_2, x<0$