Integrate function without specifying limits of integration

Question

I've been having trouble to make mathematica evaluate an integral without specifying the values of the limits of integration. I mean, if I write

Integrate[x,{x,x1,x2}]

Mathematica returns the correct answer: $\frac{(x2)^2-(x1)^2}{2}$. But If I write something like

Integrate[x^2/(1-x),{x,x1,x2}]

Mathematica just keeps the evaluation forever...

Is there something that I can do to avoid this behaviour?

Answer 1

The integral doesn't converge everywhere, see @belisarius comment, so tell Integrate what constraints you have on x1 and x2 via the Assumptions option:

Integrate[x^2/(1 - x), {x, x1, x2}, Assumptions -> 1 < x1 < x2 || x1 < x2 < 1]
(* 1/2 (x1 - x2) (2 + x1 + x2) + Log[1 - x1] - Log[1 - x2] *)