<s>[INST] A nasty integral of a rational function I'm having a hard time proving the following $$\int_0^{\infty} \frac{x^8 - 4x^6 + 9x^4 - 5x^2 + 1}{x^{12} - 10 x^{10} + 37x^8 - 42x^6 + 26x^4 - 8x^2 + 1} \, dx = \frac{\pi}{2}.$$
Mathematica has no problem evaluating it while I haven't the slightest idea how to approach it. Of course, I would like to prove it without the use of a computer. Is this an explicit form of a special function I fail to recognize?
 [/INST] Some progess: The integrand actually decomposes as
$$\frac{1}{2} \left( \frac{x^2 + 2x + 1}{x^6 + 4x^5 + 3x^4 - 4x^3 - 2x^2 + 2x + 1} + \frac{x^2 - 2x + 1}{x^6 - 4x^5 + 3x^4 + 4x^3 - 2x^2 - 2x + 1} \right).$$
Note that the second term is the same as the first term, except with $-x$ instead of $x$.  Thus, with some substitutions, the integral becomes
$$\frac{1}{2} \int_{-\infty}^\infty \frac{y^2}{y^6 - 2y^5 - 2y^4 + 4y^3 + 3y^2 - 4y + 1} \; dy.$$
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