Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-algebra-analysis-and-differential-equations-1-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2007/5/solution

A function on the open set is holomorphic if at every the complex limit
exists. The limit is independent of the direction of approach.
A pole of order at means that in a punctured neighborhood, where extends holomorphically across and . Equivalently has a nonzero finite limit at .
For the given quotient, is equivalent, on putting , to , or . Thus all possible poles are , , with no additional nonreal solutions. At such a point,
At the numerator does not vanish, so the pole has order two. At zero the numerator cancels one order:
Therefore
The numerator's cancellation at zero is why not every denominator zero produces the same pole order.

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