Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/ii/paper-2/8c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ii Paper 2 8C Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For the beta function, split inside the integral to obtain . Integrating the derivative of over gives , since both endpoint terms vanish in the initial domain. Combining these identities yieldsRepeatedly apply this recurrence until . Each resulting expression agrees with the original integral on overlap, so it gives its unique analytic continuation. Possible singularities are only .
Near , . Continuing the recurrence downwards giveswhere the empty product is . The recurrence shows that each singularity is at most a simple pole. If is not a positive integer, all these residues are nonzero and all the listed points are poles. If is a positive integer, poles occur only for ; the later candidates are removable, as is also clear from . This qualification matters when claiming a pole at every nonpositive integer.
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