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Let $D=\overline{U}-c$ and $F=\hat{w}/D^{1/2}$. For $c_i>0$, $D$ never vanishes, so an analytic branch of a square root exists along the real flow domain. Take real smooth velocity and buoyancy frequency coefficients, nonzero $k$ (chosen positive for the growing-wave convention), a nontrivial regular normal mode, and boundary decay strong enough to remove the integration-by-parts term.

Substitution into the Taylor–Goldstein equation gives the half-power case of the power-transformed Taylor–Goldstein energy identity:For completeness, differentiating $\hat{w}=D^{1/2}F$ yields ${\hat{w}}^{\prime \prime }=D^{1/2}{F}^{\prime \prime }+{\overline{U}}^{\prime }{D}^{-1/2}{F}^{\prime }+[\frac{1}{2}{\overline{U}}^{\prime \prime }{D}^{-1/2}-\frac{1}{4}({\overline{U}}^{\prime }{)}^2{D}^{-3/2}]F$, which explains the coefficient $1/4$.

Multiply by $F^{\ast }$ and integrate over $z$. The boundary term $[F^{\ast }D{F}^{\prime }]$ is zero for the given homogeneous endpoint conditions, or for sufficiently decaying finite-energy modes at infinity. ThereforeSince $\mathrm{Im}D=-c_i$, $\mathrm{Im}(1/D)=c_i/|D{|}^2$, and $S,{\overline{U}}^{\prime \prime }$ are real, taking the imaginary part and dividing by $-c_i$ givesThe first two terms have strictly positive integral for a nonzero mode. Thus $S$ cannot be nonnegative everywhere:This proves the Miles–Howard theorem in contrapositive form. Where ${\overline{U}}^{\prime }\ne 0$, the corresponding gradient Richardson number must fall below $1/4$ somewhere. Failure of this sufficient-stability criterion does not prove instability. The derivation uses $c_i>0$; it cannot be applied unchanged to a neutral singular critical layer.

Putand take the branch cut $[-1,1]$. On $\mathbb{C}\setminus [-1,1]$, choose the analytic branch of a square root whose upper boundary value isIts lower boundary value is $s(x-i0)=-\sqrt{1-x^2}$. This fixes the integrand to be $+1$ at $0^{+}$ as required.

For $0\le \arg z\le \pi$, start at $0^{+}$ and use any path to $z$ lying above the cut; path deformations within that region do not alter the integral by the Cauchy integral theorem. For $\pi <\arg z<2\pi$, start in the same way, continue counterclockwise around the branch point $-1$ from the upper bank to the lower bank, and then continue to $z$ through the lower half-plane. This second prescription is the continuation obtained as $argz$ increases through $\pi$.

An analytic branch of a square root determined by the branch $\ell$ isIf ${\psi }_1$ and ${\psi }_2$ are two such branches, their ratio $h={\psi }_1/{\psi }_2$ is analytic and satisfies $h^2=1$. Since a domain is connected and $h$ takes values in the discrete set $\{1,-1\}$, $h$ is constant. Thus ${\psi }_1={\psi }_2$ throughout $D$ or ${\psi }_1=-{\psi }_2$ throughout $D$.

For $z=r{e}^{i\theta }$, the principal square root isOn $D_2$, one may instead takeThe respective removed half-axes are their branch cuts.

On $\mathbb{C}\setminus [-1,1]$, defineIt is analytic there, its square is $1-z^2$, andso it is the required branch. Substitution gives, for $0<|z|<1$,The binomial series yieldshence the first three terms of the Laurent series are

Sinceits residue at zero is $-i$. Under the change of variable $z=1/\zeta$, the two orientation reversals cancel, and the residue theorem gives