Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2011/paper-2/4/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2011 Paper 2 4 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
For a positively oriented simple closed contour , with no pole on and with holomorphic inside except at finitely many poles, the residue theorem statesFor a more general closed contour, each residue is multiplied by its winding number about the pole.
The powers must be defined using the same branch of the complex logarithm as the numerator. A branch suitable for both requested calculations isThe branch cut is a ray just below the positive real axis, and . Since , the displayed choice of is possible. It includes the required upper half-plane and the sector used below. The origin remains an excluded branch point.
In , all zeros of areEach is a simple pole, since . Its residue isThe strict inequality matters if a root lies on the negative real axis, which is outside the specified region.
To evaluate the two improper integrals, write them as for the logarithmic numerator and for numerator one, and set , . Use a counterclockwise annular sector with and . It encloses precisely . The outward positive-axis segment contributes in the limit. On the inward segment , the logarithm is and , so that segment contributes .
The small arc is , and the large arc is ; both vanish. These estimates follow from the arc lengths and . The real integrals also converge absolutely at both endpoints for . The residue theorem now givesAfter division by , the real and imaginary parts areSince , . Hence the logarithmic beta integral from a sector contour yieldsFor the sector angle exceeds . This is why choosing the principal complex logarithm on the whole sector would be invalid; the displaced cut above handles that range as well as .
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