Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2020 / ib / Paper 1 / 12G / Solution

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