Abstract
We consider four infinite collections of improper integrals involving the sine and cosine functions and provide explicit values for the integrals in each of the collections. The methods used are elementary and involve the sine integral function and the cosine integral function. All needed results are included in this paper, but the details are a little tedious at times.
MSC:
26A36; 26A06; 33B10; 40A10
1. Introduction
Several papers (see [1,2,3,4]) have determined the explicit values of collections of improper integrals that involve the sine and cosine functions, along with their Maclaurin series. The article [3] extends the computations of [2] using results from complex analysis, while the article [4] proves some of these same results using more elementary methods. A recent problem in Amer. Math. Monthly (see [5]) involved a different type of improper integral containing sine and cosine functions. The purpose of this paper is to greatly expand the type of integral in [5]. For positive integers q and n, consider the two collections of improper integrals
where the values of a are positive integers chosen so that the improper integrals exist. In this paper, we prove the following two facts and provide explicit values for each collection of integrals.
- If the integrands are even functions, then the values of the integrals are rational multiples of .
- If the integrands are odd functions, then the values of the integrals are linear combinations of logarithms of integers, using rational numbers for the coefficients, plus a rational number.
For some simple examples, computer algebra systems easily generate the following values:
When the exponents are larger, computer algebra systems have more trouble evaluating the integrals. For integers , , and , we verify that
Note that the integrands for all of these integrals are even functions and the values of the integrals are rational multiples of . For integers , , and , we verify that
where represents the nth harmonic number. The integrands for these collections of integrals are odd functions and the values of the integrals satisfy the conditions listed above for item (2).
2. Some Preliminary Formulas
To evaluate the integrals in these collections, we make use of the sine integral function and the cosine integral function . These functions are defined by
It can be shown that (see Jameson [6] for one of many references)
where is Euler’s constant. From these definitions, it readily follows that
and
Finally, for any positive number r, we find that (since is a continuous function)
These facts will be useful in verifying the values of our integrals.
To find antiderivatives for our integrands, the following two sequences of functions appear. For each positive integer n, let
We also let . The first few explicit expressions for these functions are
It is easy to verify that for all . In addition, we find that
for all .
For the integrands that are even functions, we require the following lemma. Note that the integrands for the integrals in the lemma are even functions and that for each , the functions
are odd functions defined for all nonzero values of x.
Lemma 1.
For each nonnegative integer n and positive real number x, we have
Proof.
To prove the result for the integral involving the sine function, it is sufficient to verify that
for all . It is easy to establish the value of the limit. For the derivative, we use the properties of the functions and to obtain
the desired derivative for all .
The proof for the cosine integral is similar (using integration by parts is another option, but this approach is a bit more tedious). Since the appropriate limit is also trivial, we need to verify that
for all . Taking the derivative, we find that
which is the expected value for the derivative for all . □
Let q and n be positive integers. Since the function behaves like for large values of x and like for values of x near 0, the improper integrals in the sine collection exist when the exponent a in the denominator satisfies . Since a is an integer, it follows that . Similarly, the function behaves like 1 for large values of x and like for values of x near 0. Hence, the improper integrals in the cosine collection exist when the exponent a in the denominator satisfies . Since a is an integer, it follows that . We assume these facts in the results that follow.
We will make extensive use of the following four trigonometric identities (see [7]):
valid for all positive integers k. The fact that these identities change slightly depending on whether the exponent is even or odd complicates some of our calculations.
3. Integrals with Even Integrands
Since the computations are easier when the exponents on sine and cosine are even, we begin by considering one of these options.
Theorem 1.
If q and n are positive integers, then
for each integer r that satisfies .
Proof.
For a given set of appropriate values for q, n, and r, let represent the function
We want to find the value of . Using the ES identity for , we find that
Since Lemma 1 (with ) yields
it follows that
Since the improper integral exists, we know that has a limit as . The terms not involving the function and the constant term form a Laurent series for an odd function. Since the limit as exists, all of the terms involving negative exponents must cancel, and there is no constant term since the Laurent series function is odd. Knowing that , it follows that the value of is
This completes the proof. □
In the proof of the previous theorem, we found an explicit expression for the function . However, as indicated in the proof, we only need the multipliers of the terms; all of the other terms contribute nothing to the final value of . We denote these multipliers by the symbol for appropriate functions f. In particular, using Lemma 1, we find that
where is a positive integer and a is a positive integer for the cosine integral and a nonnegative integer for the sine integral. With these facts and notational conventions, we are able to prove the following two general results without writing out the full expression for the function explicitly. As a result, the proofs involve much less clutter. If for other purposes this function is needed, the proofs below can be expanded to determine an explicit expression for .
Theorem 2.
If q and n are positive integers, then
for each integer r that satisfies .
Proof.
For a given set of appropriate values for q, n, and r, let represent the function
We want to find the value of . Since
it is sufficient to find the value of each of the expressions Using the ES identity when is even and the equation, we find that
Similarly, when is odd, we use the OS identity and the equation to obtain
It follows that
and thus
This completes the proof. □
The recent Monthly problem (see [5]) corresponds to one of the integrals in Theorem 2 by choosing with and . Using similar reasoning, we are able to establish the values of the cosine integrals for even integrands.
Theorem 3.
If q and n are positive integers, then
for each integer r that satisfies .
Proof.
For a given set of appropriate values for q, n, and r, let represent the function
We want to find the value of . Since
it is sufficient to find the value of each of the expressions . Using the EC identity when is even and the equation, we find that
Similarly, when is odd, we obtain
It follows that
and, thus,
This completes the proof. □
4. Integrals with Odd Integrands
We now consider the integrals that have odd integrands. The antiderivatives in these cases involve the function. The next four lemmas provide the necessary results to evaluate these integrals.
Lemma 2.
For each nonnegative integer n, we have
Proof.
To prove the result for the integral involving the cosine function, it is sufficient to verify that
for all . It is easy to verify the value of the limit. For the derivative, we note that (refer to the properties of the functions and established earlier)
this gives the desired derivative for all .
The proof for the sine result is similar. Since the limit is elementary, we need to verify that
for all . For this function, we have
which is the expected value for the derivative for all . □
Let and for each positive integer k, and let . Note that
for all . It follows that and for all .
Lemma 3.
Let n be a positive integer.
- (a)
- For each positive integer k that satisfies , the coefficient for the constant term in the Laurent series for the function is .
- (b)
- For each positive integer k that satisfies , the coefficient for the constant term in the Laurent series for the function is .
- (c)
- For each positive integer k that satisfies , the coefficient for the constant term in the Laurent series for the function is .
- (d)
- For each positive integer k that satisfies , the coefficient for the constant term in the Laurent series for the function is .
Proof.
For appropriate values of n and k as given for part (a), the constant term for satisfies
Note that we have just used a finite portion of the Maclaurin series for as the terms involving higher powers generate polynomial terms in the product. Similarly, the constant term for satisfies
for appropriate values of n and k as given for part (b). Adding the results for parts (a) and (b) then gives parts (c) and (d). □
It is easy to see that the constant terms that appear in the Laurent series for the functions
are the same as the constant terms that appear in the functions
respectively, for any positive integer r. This fact will be used in the proofs of the following results.
Lemma 4.
Let m be a positive integer. For a given positive integer w, consider the function
where the and values are positive integers, the values are real numbers, and P is a polynomial of degree less than that is an even function. If exists, then
Proof.
The function can be expressed as , where is a Laurent series for an even function. Since the expressions involve the function , they cannot have any impact (in the sense of affecting the existence of a limit) on the Laurent series terms for x near 0. In other words, the constant term that appears in is not affected by the functions. By part (c) of Lemma 3, the value of this constant is . Recall that
It is clear that for any . We then note that
In order for this particular function to have a limit as , we must have , giving us a limit of . Putting the two parts together, we find that . □
Lemma 5.
Let m be a positive integer. For a given positive integer w, consider the function
where the and values are positive integers, the values are real numbers, and P is a polynomial of degree less than that is an even function. If exists, then
Proof.
The proof is almost identical to the proof of Lemma 4. □
As we did for the integrals with even integrands, we first focus on a somewhat simpler case to help clarify the process for odd integrands.
Theorem 4.
If and are positive integers, then
for each integer r that satisfies .
Proof.
For a given set of appropriate values for q, n, and r, let represent the function
We want to find the value of . Using the ES identity, we find that (as in the proof of Theorem 1)
To simplify the notation a bit, let . Using Lemma 2, we see that
It follows that
Referring to Lemma 4, we find that
Inserting the values for the terms, we obtain
This gives the stated value of the integral. □
In the proof of Theorem 4, we found an explicit expression for the function . However, as indicated in the proof, we only need to find the constant term that appears in the Laurent series portion of the antiderivative and the coefficients for terms of the form . We denote these values by for appropriate functions f. By Lemmas 2–5, we find that
when and a are positive integers.
Theorem 5.
If and are positive integers, then
for each integer r that satisfies .
Proof.
For a given set of appropriate values for q, n, and r, let represent the function
We want to find the value of . Since
it is sufficient to find the value of each of the expressions Using the ES identity when is even and the equation, we find that
Similarly, when is odd, we use the OS identity and the equation to obtain
It follows that the value of is
which is an equivalent form of the value given in the statement of the theorem. □
Theorem 6.
If and are positive integers, then
for each integer r that satisfies .
Proof.
For a given set of appropriate values for q, n, and r, let represent the function
We want to find the value of . Since
it is sufficient to find the value of each of the expressions . Using the EC identity when is even and the equation, we find that
Similarly, when is odd, we obtain
Referring to Lemma 4 and noting that the constant appears in all of the terms, we find that the term disappears when all the terms are added together. It follows that the value of is
which is an equivalent form of the value given in the statement of the theorem. □
Corollary 1.
The identities
are valid for integers q, n, and r that satisfy , , and .
Proof.
These two results follow from the last expressions for the functions in the proofs of Theorems 5 and 6, along with the first part of the conclusion of Lemma 4. It is not clear how to prove these binomial identities using other methods. □
In Theorems 5 and 6, the arguments for the logarithm function that appear in the values of the integrals are for and . Given positive integers q and n, let denote the set . Using Theorem 6, it is easy to verify that the value of
belongs to the span of
- using rational numbers for the scalars when q is even;
- using rational numbers for the scalars when q is odd and n is odd;
- using rational numbers for the scalars when q is odd and n is even.
An analogous result is valid for the integrals
by replacing the set with the set .
We note in passing that the integrals in this paper can also be evaluated using the Laplace Transform Operator Method (see [1]). It is enlightening to compare the formal values of the sine integrals
and the cosine integrals
5. Conclusions
In this paper, we have found explicit values for two large collections of improper integrals. We are not aware of any particular references for these integrals. The five lemmas presented in the paper can be useful for finding the values of other collections of similar integrals.
Funding
This research received no external funding.
Data Availability Statement
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article, and further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.
Conflicts of Interest
The author declares no conflicts of interest.
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