Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/ii/paper-2/13e/b/i/solution

The additional branch points lie on the two deleted rays because . On the same simply connected domain
choose both square roots to equal at zero. Their product has a single-valued holomorphic reciprocal on , so its integral from zero defines the single-valued branch of the elliptic integral of the first kind.
An unrestricted contour may wind around any of . Continuation around one such point flips one square root, so the value can change by square-root monodromy. Thus is multivalued.

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