Any reason why this definite integral is so slow to compute and the indefinite fast?

Question

This integral is easy and fast to compute

Integrate[Sqrt[(x^2) + k ], x]

$$\frac{1}{2} x \sqrt{k+x^2}+\frac{1}{2} k \log \left(\sqrt{k+x^2}+x\right)$$

But the same, definite, integral is very slow:

Integrate[Sqrt[x^2 + k], {x, Sqrt[u], Sqrt[u] + Sqrt[A]}]

I suspect this is related with conditions about parameter (cannot see any other reason) but I didn't managed to put proper Assumptions to make it execute faster.

I can compute the definite integral by the indefinite one with

Integrate[Sqrt[x^2 + k], x] /. {{x -> Sqrt[u] + Sqrt[A]}, {x -> Sqrt[u]}} // Apply@Subtract

but, if possible, I prefer to keep the definite form, with the proper options and assumptions.

Answer 1

Yes, in the definite integral you have to make assumptions about the parameters. The natural choice for the parameters u and A is that they are positive. Letting, for simplicity, also k> 0 we find

g = Timing[ 
  Integrate[Sqrt[x^2 + k], {x, Sqrt[u], Sqrt[u] + Sqrt[A]}, 
   Assumptions -> {u > 0, A > 0, k > 0}]]

(* Out[162]= {1.85641, 1/
  2 (-Sqrt[u (k + u)] + Sqrt[A (A + k + u + 2 Sqrt[A u])] + Sqrt[
    u (A + k + u + 2 Sqrt[A u])] + 
    k Log[(Sqrt[A] + Sqrt[u] + Sqrt[A + k + u + 2 Sqrt[A u]])/(
      Sqrt[u] + Sqrt[k + u])])} *)

For comparison the indefinite integral is

f = Timing[Integrate[Sqrt[x^2 + k], x]]

(* Out[163]= {0.0312002, 1/2 x Sqrt[k + x^2] + 1/2 k Log[x + Sqrt[k + x^2]]} *)

Answer 2

I believe this blog post answers your question.

http://blog.wolfram.com/2008/01/19/mathematica-and-the-fundamental-theorem-of-calculus/

It boils down to this:

The fundamental theorem of Calculus requires the antiderivative be continuous. This is something hard to guarantee and can be slow to detect and fix the discontinuities by shifting vertically.