91.

40 an Amusing Sequence of Trigonometrical Integrals

Author(s): Nick Lord
Source: The Mathematical Gazette, Vol. 91, No. 521 (Jul., 2007), pp. 281-285
Published by: Mathematical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40378359
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NOTES

281

u-shapedand takesits maximumvalue overthedomainof allowedvalues

to theisoscelestriangle
of t at theendpointt = 1 - sin\A,corresponding
with* = \{jz - A) = B = C.
If jt tan^A - 1 > 0 or A > 2 tan"1, thequadraticgraphof Q(t) is
n-shaped, but the value of t giving its global maximumoccurs at
J:
which(check!) is always greaterthan 1 - sin+A,the
t _
n tanA - 1
largestallowed value of t. So in this case also, thereis an endpoint
withapexangleA.
to an isoscelestriangle
maximum
corresponding
We nowuse a lovelyold argument
(whichmaybe tracedbackto Simon
thelargest
Lhuilier(1750-1840),[1]) to deducethat,amongall triangles,
value of Q is given by an equilateraltriangle. Certainly,since the
in (A,B, C), itattainsitsglobalmaximum
on
forQ is continuous
expression
the compactregion0 < A, B, C < ji, A + B + C = n. And, starting
withan arbitrary
trianglewithangles(A, B, C), theisoscelestrianglewith
A
and
angles (A, \(B + C) , \(B + C)) has largerQ-value;
apex angle
this
argumentshows that the isosceles trianglewith angles
repeating
(\(B + C), \{A + \{B + C)), \{A + \{B + C))) has even larger Qthisargument
value. Iterating
generatesa sequenceof isoscelestriangles
withever-increasing
Q-values whichalways convergeto the equilateral
difference
betweentheanglesofthenthisosceles
sincethegreatest
triangle,
is
the
in
sequence \ji 3A|/2nwhichtendsto zero as n tendsto
triangle
thushas thelargestQtheequilateral
triangle
Amongall triangles,
infinity.
0.1635.
\
valueof^
on whytheproofis a bit fiddly. First,
Finally,it is worthreflecting
since/(x) = In shut is concave on (0, ri), \LIn sinA < In sin(^ZA) or
IlsinA < sin3fand^Eln sin^A < In sin(ZA) or n sin2\A < sin6f so
of Q, n sinA and 1611sin2^A,are themselves
theindividualconstituents
maximisedforan equilateraltriangle.Second,as in theSTEP
separately
question,it is easy to generaterelativelytightupperboundsforQ. For
example, writing S = II sin\A and C = II cos \A we have
as a quadraticin
Q = &CS - 16S2= %S(C - JtS)< ^ on maximising

=
0.1710.
S. But,as above,C < cos3f ^, so thatQ < -^
Reference
Associationof
Mathematical
Geometric
1. N. D. Kazarinoff,
inequalities,
America(1961) pp. 38-41.
NICK LORD
Kent
TN9UP
School,
Tonbridge

91.40 An amusingsequenceoftrigonometrical
integrals

This notewas inspiredby thediscussionof the8thProblemin Bailey,

Borwein,Kapoorand Weisstein'sbeautifulrecentarticle[1], thewholeof
whichI warmlycommendto Gazettereaders. On pages 23-24 of this
of
theamusingbehaviour
in [2],theyhighlight
article,whichis also reprised

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GAZETTE
THEMATHEMATICAL

282

f sindXsina2x... sinaxdx
the sequenceof sine integralsof theform
Jo cl\X a-ix
ax
for certainchoices of sequences (an). In this note, we considerthe
ofthenotunrelated
behaviour
sequenceofintegrals
sinbx ,
f
ax
cos a\Xcos a2x.. . cos ax
J0

can be
thisbehaviour
whichexhibitsequallyamusingbehaviour.Moreover,
morestraightforward
analysisthan
explainedby a broadlysimilarbutrather
thatneededforthesequenceofsineintegrals,
[3].
The resultwe shall proveas our maintheoremis notnew: indeed,it
as we shallremarkin ourfinal
literature,
maybe foundin the19thcentury
paragraph.
which
What,then,is thejoke? Considerthefollowing
(true)statements
arefuntotryto verify
on a computer
algebrapackage:
f

i cos*
Jo

sin 4j

dx = 1.57079632679...,

x sin Ax

i cosx cos
Jo
2

dx = 1.57079632679.
.. ,

cosx cos - cos

o
2
3
andso on,as faras
f

i cosx cos - cos

Jo
2
3
butthisis followedby
_oo

I cosx cos - cos

Jo

cos

cos

.. ,
dx = 1.57079632679.

x sin 4-jc

30

v sin \ x

31

jc

.. ,
dx = 1.57079632679.

.. .
dx = 1.57079632533.

The 1.57079... is screaming

f, butis theblip on the31stterma rounding
erroror thestartof a pattern
breakingdown? (Indeed,theauthorsof [1]
werealertedto thispattern
of behaviourin theirsequenceof integralson
evaluatedthesequenceof integrals
usinga
hearingthat,whena researcher
vendor
he
and
the
software
well-known
both
computeralgebrapackage,
concludedthattheblipindicateda bugin thesoftware!)
We beginouranalysiswitha lemma.
Lemma:Let a, b be realnumbers
withb > 0. Then:

(a) io.,.

(b)

Jo

cosax

*-2'
smbx

jc

,
jr.
n
.
,
Jft.,i
0 if| a \ > b.
dx = - if| a \ < b, - if,| a ,\ = b, and
4
2

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NOTES

283

Proof:
(a) Substitutet = bx intothe standardimproperintegralJ
...
(b)

dt = - .

sinftx
i
sinbx
f
a.x = cos a |be
ax
cosax

J0

J0

1 r00sin(ft+ |fl|jc)+ sin(ft- |a|jc)

_
- ~ I
ax.
lh
x
Using (a), the latterintegralevaluates to \ (f + ) if | a \ < ft,to \ (f + O)
if | | = ft,and to i (f - f) if \a\ > b.
Our main theoremis:
Theorem: Let a\, . . . , an,b be positive real numberswith<zi+ ... + an < b.
jr
sinftjc,
f
dx = - .
cos a\x cos 02^ cos an*
Then
'o
2
x
Proof: By repeated use of the factor formulae,we obtain some of the
identities:
'lesser-spotted'trigonometrical
cos Zjccos a2x = [cos(<zi + a2)x + cos(ai - a2)x]
cosojc cos2^ cosa^x =
J[cos(fli+ a2 + 03)*+ cos(fli+ a2 a3)x + cos(fli a2 + a3)x + cos(ai -a2- a^)x]
with,in general,
cosfljccosu^*- cosfl^ = --

cos(i + e2a2 + . . . + enar)x. (1)

~l
Since, for each of the 2n choices of signs (e ,), \ai+ 22+ + nan\
< a\ + a2 + . . . + an < ft,thelemma ensuresthat
v sinftjc,
,
it
f
dx = cos(ai + 2a2 + ... + fnjx
Jo
x
2
so that,by (1),
1 -n_iJr jr
sinftjc,
f
ax = -- 2 - - - ,
J cos^ixcos^-^- cosa^

as claimed.
We are nowreadyto explainthebehaviourof theperplexing
sequence
above. Let (an)be a strictly
decreasingsequenceofpositivereal
highlighted
numbersand suppose that,for some n > 2, a\+a2+ ... +an_i<ft<
ai + a2 + + n-1+ n-By thetheorem,
jr
sinftjc,
f
dx = cos ijc cos a2x. . . cos akx

Jo
<ifc</iall
1
for

jc

1.

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284

THEMATHEMATICAL
GAZETTE

< b for
But,in (1), a\ + ... +an> b with-b < ax + e2a2+ ... + n^n
all otherchoicesof signs. Thus,by thelemmaappliedto each of theterms
in(l),
/
, = -1 F
s7t~\
-sinbxdx
= Jil^ -- 1 \
+ (2n_i- l)-J
cos^cosa^cos^
[0
Jo
-(l
J.
f

Ouropeningsequenceis thusfullyexplainedbythefactthat
11
11
1^11
12
12
30
30
31
x sin4jc
x
t
f
so that cosjccos-... cos
dx = - for all 1 < k < 30 but
J0

A
,
1
X
x
jc sin4.x
fcosjccos-...
jr/^ - 1- \ - the
cos
dx=
-\\
pattern
reallydoes start
J
J

down! Ratheragreeably,
breaking
replacingsinAxby sin5jc,sin6jc,. . ., we
can maketheinitialsequenceof (^js as long as we like and theensuing
breakdownas imperceptible
as we like. Indeed,since Y - Inn + y,
r= 1 r

replacingsin4x by sinbx, with? a whole number,generatesan initial

of
eb~ywitha 'breakdown-blip'
sequenceof Uji)s of lengthapproximately
- TtL - 1 \
approximately
-11
^^j.
n 1
It is also worthnotingthat,because T - is neveran integer,[4], the
'jr/4-case'in part(b) of thelemmacannotarisehere. And,of course,if
oo

seriesof positivereal numberswith^ an < b, then

S an is a convergent
=i
smbx .
.
fcos
dx is a constant
ix cos 2X.. . cos ax
sequence,beingequal to
J
^jrforallfl > 1.
In principle,
themethodusedin theproofofthetheorem
can be usedto
sinbx
i
f
evaluate cos ai* cosa2x... cosvc
dx forany au a2, ... , an > 0
J0
X
(notjust witha\ + a2 + ... + an < b): thesumin (1) splitsintothree
pieces according as | a\ + e2a2 + . . . + enan\ < b, = b9> b. For
example,thechoicea i = a2 =... = an = landfc = yields
f n sinwe ,
1 fjr
nI
/^n-i
M
* - +\rtl
- + (2n
f cosnjc
dx =
.
l) - I = - (l
Jo
jc
2n~l L4
72J
21
2n/
in this case, (1) providesan alternative
to the use of de
(Incidentally,
Moivre'stheoremin derivingan expressionforcoswjcin termsof multiple
the signsin (1) showsthat
angles:counting

=^xV)cos(n-2*)x
cos"*
z

*=o

K J

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NOTES

285

1 *{n~l)ln\
cos

whichequals--

(n - 2k)xifn is odd and

m*+(n'/[
^[2l(:)cos(n-

ifn is even,on pairingterms.)

to end withan amusingfootnote. A

Finally,it seems appropriate
due to Stornier
in the19thcentury,
whichcombinesourmain
generalisation
with
the
sine
of
be
found
in thepages
[1,2,3],
integrals
may
lurking
example
andWatson,[5], as an exercisein thechapteron thetheory
ofWhittaker
of
residues:
a arepositiverealnumbers,
then
if0i, 02 0n>ai> a2->-" > am->

sinax ,
f sind>ixsin2x sinox
n
ax = ...
cosaijc cos a2x... cosa^x:
J0 (j)xX (f)2X
X
2
(pnX
provideda > 0i + 02 + ... +0n + i + 2 + + amReferences
Ten problems
1. D. H. Bailey,J.M. Borwein,V. Kapoor& E. Weisstein,
in experimentalmathematics(2004), available on-line at http://
eprints.cecm.sfu.ca/archive/00000270/.
mathematics:
2. D. H. Bailey & J.M. Borwein,Experimental
examples,
Noticesof theAmer.Math.Soc. (72) (May
methodsand applications,
.
2005) p. 512,availableon-lineathttp://www.ams.org/notices/
3. J.Borwein, D. Bailey & R. Girgensohn, Experimentationin
A. K. Peters(2004) pp. 98-102& pp. 122-126.
mathematics,
of sums of reciprocalsof
4. D. W. Detemple,The noninteger
property
Math.Gaz. (75) (July1991)pp.193-194.
successiveintegers,
& G. N. Watson,A courseofmodernanalysis(4thed),
5. E. T. Whittaker
Press(1927) p. 122.
University
Cambridge
NICK LORD
Kent
TN9UP
School,
Tonbridge

91.41 Some integralsinvolvingIn(tan/)

B (p, q) is definedas
The betafunction

andsatisfiestheidentity
whereF (z) is thegammafunction,
lB(p,q) = ^(cos^-'fMsin2*-1;)^.

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(1)