Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2002 / Paper 1 / 5 / a / Solution

Let $I={\int }_0^{\infty }{e}^{-x^2}dx$. Positivity allows the squared integral to be written as a first-quadrant double integral. In polar coordinates the Jacobian determinant is $r$, soUsing integration by parts, with the boundary term $x{e}^{-x^2}$ vanishing at both endpoints,The substitution $u=x^2$ also gives the two antiderivativesThese values also follow from the Gaussian moment recurrence and can be checked by differentiation.