Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 72 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the principal complex logarithm in the upper half-plane. Deform the interval upward into a half-strip: the vertical side at zero is traversed upward, and the side at one downward. The top side vanishes exponentially; a small indentation at zero contributes and vanishes. Thus the contour deformation gives the exact representation, for ,Since , scaling and using the integral defining Euler's constant givesFor the second endpoint, . Watson's lemma, or integration of these powers against with an exponentially small tail, yieldsIn particular the required first terms areThe two different endpoint scales come from the logarithmic singularity at zero and the simple zero of the amplitude at one.