TITLE: Integral $\int_0^{\pi/4}\frac{dx}{{\sin 2x}\,(\tan^ax+\cot^ax)}=\frac{\pi}{8a}$
QUESTION [13 upvotes]: I am trying to prove this interesting integral$$
\mathcal{I}:=\int_0^{\pi/4}\frac{dx}{{\sin 2x}\,(\tan^ax+\cot^ax)}=\frac{\pi}{8a},\qquad \mathcal{Re}(a)\neq 0.
$$
This result is breath taking but I am more stumped than usual.  It truly is magnificent.  I am not sure how to approach this,
note $\sin 2x=2\sin x \cos x$.  I am not sure how to approach this because of the term
$$
(\tan^ax+\cot^ax)
$$
in the denominator.  I was trying to use the identity 
$$
\tan \left(\frac{\pi}{2}-x\right)=\cot x
$$
since this method solves a similar kind of integral but didn't get anywhere.    A bad idea I tried was to try and differentiate with respect to a
$$
\frac{dI(a)}{da}=\int_0^{\pi/4}\partial_a \left(\frac{dx}{{\sin 2x}\,(\tan^ax+\cot^ax)}\right)=\int_0^{\pi/4}  \frac{(\cot^a x \log(\cot x )+\log(\tan x ) \tan^a x)}{\sin 2x \, (\cot^a x+\tan^a x)^2}dx
$$
which seems more complicated when I break it up into two integrals.  How can we solve the integral?  Thanks.

REPLY [10 votes]: $\newcommand{\+}{^{\dagger}}
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$\ds{{\cal I}\equiv\int_{0}^{\pi/4}{\dd x \over \sin\pars{2x}\bracks{\tan^{a}\pars{x} + \cot^{a}\pars{x}}}={\pi \over 8\verts{a}},\qquad \Re\pars{a} \neq 0}$.
Note that the integral depends obviously on $\ds{\large\verts{a}}$.

\begin{align}
{\cal I}&=\half\
\overbrace{\int_{0}^{\pi/2}{\dd x \over \sin\pars{x}
\bracks{\tan^{\verts{a}}\pars{x/2} + \cot^{\verts{a}}\pars{x/2}}}}
^{\ds{t \equiv \tan\pars{x \over 2}}}
\\[3mm]&=\half\int_{0}^{1}{2\,\dd t/\pars{1 + t^{2}}
\over \bracks{2t/\pars{1 + t^{2}}}\pars{t^{\verts{a}} + t^{-\verts{a}}}}
=\half\ \overbrace{\int_{0}^{1}
{t^{\verts{a} - 1} \over t^{2\verts{a}} + 1}\,\dd t}
^{\ds{t^{\verts{a}} \equiv x}\ \imp\ t = x^{1/\verts{a}}}
\\[3mm]&=\half\int_{0}^{1}{ \pars{x^{1/\verts{a}}}^{\verts{a} - 1} \over x^{2} + 1}\,{1 \over \verts{a}}\,x^{1/\verts{a} - 1}\dd x
={1 \over 2\verts{a}}\ \overbrace{\int_{0}^{1}{\dd x \over x^{2} + 1}}
^{\ds{=\ {\pi \over 4}}}
\end{align}

$$\color{#00f}{\large%
{\cal I}\equiv\int_{0}^{\pi/4}{\dd x \over \sin\pars{2x}\bracks{\tan^{a}\pars{x} + \cot^{a}\pars{x}}}={\pi \over 8\verts{a}}}\,,\qquad\Re\pars{a} \not= 0
$$