Ellipse perimeter expansion near a circle ($L=2\pi (1-t/4-3t^2/64+O(t^3)),t=1-x^2$)

For an ellipse with semiaxes $1,x$, the perimeter integral has integrand $\sqrt{1-t{\cos }^2\theta }$. The uniformly convergent binomial series near $t=0$ permits termwise integration. Integrals of ${\cos }^2\theta$ and ${\cos }^4\theta$ over a full period give the displayed first corrections. The same coefficients follow from the Frobenius method for the transformed perimeter equation.